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Usefulness of SWI for the Detection of Iron in the Motor Cortex in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Author(s) -
Adachi Yuko,
Sato Noriko,
Saito Yuko,
Kimura Yukio,
Nakata Yasuhiro,
Ito Kimiteru,
Kamiya Kouhei,
Matsuda Hiroshi,
Tsukamoto Tadashi,
Ogawa Masahumi
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon.12127
Subject(s) - medicine , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , susceptibility weighted imaging , motor cortex , cortex (anatomy) , magnetic resonance imaging , autopsy , multiple sclerosis , pathology , etiology , nuclear medicine , radiology , neuroscience , disease , psychology , stimulation , psychiatry
PURPOSE The purpose of the present retrospective study was to evaluate the sensitivity of susceptibility‐weighted imaging (SWI) compared to conventional spin‐echo T2‐weighted and T2*‐weighted images in detecting iron deposition in the motor cortex of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients in comparison with age‐matched normal controls. We also investigated the etiology of the low signal referring to the pathology of one autopsy case. METHODS This retrospective magnetic resonance (MR) study included 23 ALS patients and 28 age‐matched normal controls. The signal intensity of the motor cortex was scored by SWI, conventional T2‐weighted images and T2*‐weighted images. A postmortem study of one patient was also performed. RESULTS On SWI, there was a significant difference between the precentral cortical signal intensity scores in the ALS patients and the controls ( P < .0001). The total scores of signal intensities of the precentral cortex were positively correlated with age in the normal controls ( r = .494), but no correlation was observed in the ALS patients. The postmortem study showed intensely stained microglias and macrophages after antiferritin antibody staining in the precentral cortices. CONCLUSIONS Decreased signal intensity of the motor cortex on SWI may serve a useful role in ALS diagnoses, particularly in young patients. MR images were also helpful for speculating on the etiology of ALS.