الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 80 |  |  |
| | | from | 80 | | |
Abstract
This study aimed to assess the added value of 3D-FLAIR in the detection of brain lesions in MS patients.
The study was conducted on thirty-two patients diagnosed as having RRMS according to their clinical presentation and the typical MRI findings. There were eight males and twenty-four females. Their ages ranged between fifty-six years and twenty-two years with a mean age of thirty-five years. All the patients were subjected to full history taking and thorough clinical examination.
MRI was performed on 1.5T and 3T Philips Gyroscan Intera whole body scanner System using a standard head coil. Imaging included conventional MRI and 3D-FLAIR in the sagittal orientation which were orthogonally reformatted into the axial and coronal planes.
The MS lesions were identified on the T2WI, FLAIR and 3D FLAIR sequences and classified based on their anatomic location into: infratentorial, periventricular, DWM, corpus callosum, sub-cortical, cortical lesions and mixed WM-GM lesions.
• The findings of our study were: 1. Overall, the highest number of GM and WM lesions, was noticed on the 3D-FLAIR Sequence (736). FLAIR images showed (370), while T2W MR images showed (328). The 3D-FLAIR was statistically significant compared to T2WI (p < 0.001*) and FLAIR (p < 0.001*). 2. The 3D-FLAIR sequence could depict the largest number of supra-tentorial lesions (655) compared to T2WI (301) and FLAIR (345) sequences, showing statistically significant difference compared to FLAIR (p<0.001) and T2WI (p<0.001). 3. 3D FLAIR sequence was superior in depicting cortical lesions (81) in comparison with both T2-WI (10) and FLAIR (12) sequences and it showed statistically significant difference compared to T2WI (p<0.001) and FLAIR (p<0.001). 4. The largest number of periventricular lesions was observed with 3D FLAIR imaging (231), followed by FLAIR (166) then T2WI (138). The 3D-FLAIR showed statistically significant difference compared to T2WI (p<0.001*), also there was significant difference between 3D FLAIR and FLAIR (p<0.001). 5. The highest numbers of infra-tentorial lesions were scored on 3D FLAIR (72), followed by T2WI (26). FLAIR images (24) was the least sensitive to detect infratentorial lesions. There was significant difference between 3D FLAIR and T2 (p<0.001) or FLAIR (P<0.001). 6. According to Corpus-callosal lesions, the most were scored on 3D-FLAIR sequence (17) followed by FLAIR (5). The T2 (0) was the least to detect these lesions. The 3D-FLAIR showed no statistically significant difference compared to T2WI (p=0.038). Although not significantly differ when comparing3D- FLAIR and FLAIR (p=0.124). This result may be due to smal number of lesions detected in this group of patients.