Macromolecular Imaging of White and Gray Matter Pathology in Multiple Sclerosis

This study will use MRI imaging in order to determine whether new macromolecular measures, optimized for whole brain (Gray Matter + White Matter) imaging, predict neurocognitive impairment in MS patients. The study team will apply these measures, along with existing imaging measures, in a series of MS subjects and healthy controls, to determine whether the novel methods will yield estimates of whole-brain MS disease burden, that predict cognitive impairment more accurately. The successful clinical validation of the new markers will show that it provides more relevant measures of Gray Matter + White Matter disease associated with cognitive deficits than conventional MRI. The availability of such objective, imaging-based measures may fundamentally change the evaluation of cognitive performance. Thus, this study may realign the capabilities of MRI with the demands for biomarkers generated by our most current understanding of MS as a “whole-brain” disease.