Pascal Sati, PhD: Challenges in Imaging for Multiple Sclerosis

“The current imaging criteria are not specific enough [in MS], and therefore misdiagnosis is still an issue in the field.”

At the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) Forum in Dallas, Texas, Pascal Sati, PhD, an imaging expert with the National Institutes of Health, spoke about the current challenges faced in multiple sclerosis (MS) which are caused by the limitations of the available imaging techniques used in daily clinical practice.

He focused mainly on the potential use of the central vein sign, a novel but unconfirmed biomarker which may be able to aid in cutting down the number of patients misdiagnosed with the disease—a common issue due to the limitations of current imaging techniques. None of the current techniques are both fast enough and sensitive enough to detect the central vein sign accurately within the current clinical workflow at this point.

Although, the senior preclinical and clinical imaging scientist at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke gave a presentation on a volumetric (3D) segmented echo-planar-imaging (EPI) sequence, which could be used to detect novel biomarkers such as the central vein sign in a rapid manner.

To find out more about the group’s work, NeurologyLive^® spoke with Sati in an interview on the floor at ACTRIMS.

REFERENCES

1. Sati P. Imaging the central vein sign: overview of current MRI techniques. Presented at: ACTRIMS; February 28 to March 2, 2019; Dallas, TX. actrims.confex.com/actrims/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/3511.

2. Sati P, Patil S, Krueger G, Derbyshire JA, Reich DS. Fast sub-millimeter whole-brain magnetic resonance imaging of novel biomarkers for multiple sclerosis. Presented at: ACTRIMS; February 28 to March 2, 2019; Dallas, TX. actrims.confex.com/actrims/2019/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/4073.