In this VUB seminar Prof. Dr. Mike Wattjes from the Hannover Medical School in Germany will share his knowledge on the recommended use of MRI in patients with multiple sclerosis.
This seminar will take place on October 11, 2021 at 18u. You can join us in auditorium Kiekens, UZ Brussel route 1001 or online: Click here to join the meeting
Professor and Consultant Mike Wattjes will explain how recent developments have lead to a changing role of MRI for the management of patients with multiple sclerosis. Resulting in a 2021 revision of the previous guidelines on MRI use for patients with multiple sclerosis merging recommendations from the Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis study group, Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centres, and North American Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis Cooperative, and translates research findings into clinical practice to improve the use of MRI for diagnosis, prognosis, and monitoring of individuals with multiple sclerosis.
Important steps towards appropriate use of MRI in routine clinical practice were the 2015 Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Multiple Sclerosis and 2016 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centres guidelines on the use of MRI in diagnosis and monitoring of multiple sclerosis. Since their promulgation, there have been substantial relevant advances in knowledge, including the 2017 revisions of the McDonald diagnostic criteria, renewed safety concerns regarding intravenous gadolinium-based contrast agents, and the value of spinal cord MRI for diagnostic, prognostic, and monitoring purposes.
The recommendations that will be discussed include changes in MRI acquisition protocols, such as emphasising the value of three dimensional-fluid-attenuated inversion recovery as the core brain pulse sequence to improve diagnostic accuracy and ability to identify new lesions to monitor treatment effectiveness, and recommendations for the judicious use of gadolinium-based contrast agents for specific clinical purposes. Additionally, recommendations to the use of MRI in patients with multiple sclerosis in childhood, during pregnancy, and in the post-partum period will be discussed as well as promising MRI approaches that might deserve introduction into clinical practice in the near future.