Lesion load measurements in multiple sclerosis: the effect of incorporating magnetization transfer contrast in a Fast-Flair sequence

We compared the ability and reproducibility of a fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (fast-FLAIR) sequence with and without a magnetization transfer (MT) pulse for detecting and measuring multiple sclerosis (MS)-related abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans from 20 patients. The Contrast-to-Noise ratios between lesions and normal-appearing white matter, lesion numbers, lesion volumes and the variability of such measurements were similar for the two sequences. This suggests that the addition of MT to FLAIR sequences as currently implemented on standard MRI scanners does not improve the detection of MS lesions.