- Central Vein Sign in Multiple Sclerosis: A Comparison Study of the Diagnostic Performance of 3T versus 7T MRI
The perivenular relationship of MS demyelinating plaque is thought to represent one of the most histologically specific features of MS. In this retrospective study, the authors directly compared the utility of 3T SWI, 7T SWI, and T2&WI in detecting central vein sign (CVS) and the ability of CVS to differentiate MS from nonspecific WM lesions in patients without MS (presumed vascular origin) in a large cohort of patients. They found that 7T SWI and T2* (73% and 87% of lesions, respectively) showed significantly more CVSs than 3T (31%). Both T2*WI and 7T SWI sequences were 100% accurate (AUC=1.0) for diagnosing MS from WM lesions of presumed vascular origin, which was superior to 3T (AUC=0.975).