Abstract Details

Title Spinal Cord Atrophy Is Associated with Disease Duration and Severity in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Topic Anterior Horn

Presentation(s) P06 - (-)

Poster/Presentation
Number 140

Objective

Background BACKGROUND: Biomarkers are urgently needed to help in the diagnosis and long term care of patients with ALS. SC damage is a pathological hallmark of the disease, but there are few studies that investigated quantitative MRI of the SC as a possible biomarker in ALS.

Design/Methods DESIGN/METHODS: Thirty patients with ALS confirmed by El Escorial criteria (20 men) and 30 age-and-gender-matched healthy controls underwent MRI on a 3T Achieva PHILIPS scanner. We used T1-weighted 3D images covering the whole brain and the cervical SC to estimate cervical SC area and eccentricity at C2/C3 level based on a semi-automatic image segmentation protocol using a validated software (Spineseg). Acquisition parameters were: TE=3.2ms, TR=7.1ms, flip angle=8o, voxel size=1.0 x 1.0 x 1.0 mm3 and FOV = 240x240. Disease severity was quantified with the ALS severity scale. SC areas of patients and controls were compared with Mann-Whitney test. We used linear regression to investigate the association of SC area and clinical parameters.

Results RESULTS: Mean age of patients and disease duration were 50 years (range 26-70) and 40.4 ± 34.4 months, respectively. The two groups were significantly different regarding SC areas (67.5±5.4 mm[sup2] vs 59.1±8.9 mm[sup2], p<0.001). However, eccentricity values were similar in both groups (p=0.971). SC areas presented a significant correlation with disease duration (r=-0.557, p=0.001) and ALS severity scale (r=0.363, p=0.049).

Conclusions CONCLUSIONS: Patients with ALS have SC atrophy, but no flattening. In addition, SC areas did correlate with disease duration and functional status. These data suggest that quantitative MRI of the SC may be a useful biomarker in the disease.

Authors/Disclosures
Lucas D. Branco PRESENTER	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
Anamarli Nucci	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file
David Miller	No disclosure on file
	No disclosure on file

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