Although not designed as a formal interobserver study, the current study suggests that comparing available literature data on cortical lesions may be problematic, and increased consistency in acquisition protocols may improve scoring agreement. Sensitivity and specificity of the proposed recommendations should now be studied in a more formal, prospective, multicenter setting using similar DIR protocols.

This study shows that the amount and severity of MS pathology in the cervical cord are greater in the progressive forms of the disease. An accurate assessment of cervical cord damage in MS gives information that can be used in part to explain the clinical manifestations of the disease.

The authors evaluated the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) of T2 lesions, normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), and brain from 39 migraineurs, 17 healthy volunteers, and 22 patients with MS. Migraineurs had NAWM and brain MTR values similar to those of normal subjects but significantly higher than those of MS patients. Average lesion MTR values also were significantly lower in MS patients than in migraineurs. In patients with migraine, other etiologies should be considered in the presence of tissue damage beyond that seen on T2-weighted scans.

In several white matter diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), and in particular in multiple sclerosis, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has proved to be sensitive for detecting lesions and their changes over time. However, conventional MRI is not able to characterize and quantify the tissue damage within and outside such lesions. Magnetization transfer MRI (MT-MRI) is a quantitative MRI technique with the potential to overcome this limitation and, as a consequence, to provide additional information about the nature and the extent of tissue damage. Metrics derived from MT-MRI can quantify the structural changes occurring within and outside lesions visible on conventional MRI scans. The present review summarizes the major contributions given by MT-MRI to provide an accurate in vivo picture of the heterogeneity of CNS pathology and, ultimately, to improve our ability to monitor the evolution of various neurological conditions.