Gadolinium-pentetic acid magnetic resonance imaging in patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis
R. Capra, N. Marciano, L. A. Vignolo, A. Chiesa and R. Gasparotti
Department of Neurology, University of Medicine, Brescia, Italy.
Ten patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis have been studied
by serial gadolinium-pentetic acid magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) every
14 days for 3 months. At the end of the follow-up, seven relapses occurred
in six patients; no therapy was administered during the study. Ninety-three
enhancing lesions were collected in eight patients. With regard to the
duration of the enhancement, 32 lesions were detected in only one MRI scan
and 32 were found in more MRI scans (most of the lesions occurring in two
serial examinations). Four old lesions increased their size with delayed
enhancement. Correlation was found between the relapses and the
gadolinium-pentetic acid-enhancing areas only for one brain-stem and two
cervical spinal cord lesions. Gadolinium-pentetic acid MRI provides useful
information about activity of the disease that cannot be obtained
clinically even if the dynamic of the lesions may be undervalued in old
plaques.
