MS-QMRI_v01
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Advanced MRI to Investigate Progression in Multiple Sclerosis
IRAS ID
256680
Contact name
Claudia Wheeler-Kingshott
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Eudract number
2017-003008-30
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Initiated, UCL Data Protection Register
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common acquired disabling neurological disease affecting young adults in temperate latitudes. It is a progressive disorder of the brain and spinal cord, and exact cause is unknown at present. It is thought to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, affecting approximately 120,000 people in the UK and 2.5M globally.
There is evidence that measures obtained from quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the brain and spinal cord can provide novel, sensitive markers for clinical outcomes in MS, with potential to translate their use to clinical trials of neuroprotection and repair in MS.
However, spinal cord imaging is very tricky as the spinal cord is only 1cm wide (the brain is 15cm) and is surrounded by the bony vertebrae, which can make the images look distorted, and the spinal cord also moves with the rhythm of breathing and heart pulsation. We have developed fast, reliable multi-modal MRI imaging protocols to measure tissue properties, in both the brain and the spinal cord. Our MRI protocols allow the estimation of reproducible measures of myelin volume, neuronal morphology and, combining those, the myelin g-ratio (ratio between the inner and the outer diameters of the myelin sheath of nerve fibres), providing information about tissue structure not available from other imaging techniques.
The MRI scans will be optimized and reproducibility and scan-rescan tests performed and computational modelling and image analysis methods developed. We believe that with the latest technology we will be able to reduce the scan time for the combined MRI protocols to one hour, a first for such a rich data collection. The MRI protocol will include methods for measurements of the amount of water bound to tissue structure macromolecules, predominantly myelin, and axonal morphometry measurements, jointly for brain and spinal cord.REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0649
Date of REC Opinion
26 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion