Comparison of Phase-Sensitive Inversion Recovery and Conventional Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Detection of Cortical Plaques in MS Patients

 Precise detection and classification of intracortical (IC) lesions in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are very important for understanding their role in disease progression and determining their effects on the clinical presentations of the disease.

 This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of phase-sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) in delineation of cortical lesions in MS patients.

 This cross-sectional, single-center study was performed among 38 patients with the mean age of 31 years, who were recruited from December 2018 to August 2020. All MS patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), using a 1.5-Tesla scanner. Two expert neuroradiologists interpreted the fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), T2-weighted turbo spin echo (T2W-TSE), and PSIR images. The lesions were classified as purely IC, mixed gray/white matter (WM) [leukocortical (LC)], and juxtacortical (JC). The number of lesions in each region was compared between the FLAIR, T2W-TSE, and PSIR sequences.

 The number of cortical lesions (IC and LC) was significantly higher in PSIR compared to T2W-TSE and Fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) (P < 0.001), while the number of JC lesions was lower; in other words, the mean number of plaques was higher in T2W-TSE and FLAIR as compared to PSIR.

 The PSIR sequence significantly improved the delineation of cortical lesions and could be useful in monitoring cortical injuries and disease progression in MS patients.