Detection of Multiple Sclerosis Lesions in Supra- and Infra-Tentorial Anatomical Regions by Double Inversion Recovery, Flair, and T2 MRI Sequences: A Comparative Study in Iraqi Patients

Abstract

Background: In young adults, multiple sclerosis is a prevalent chronic inflammatory demyelinating condition. It is characterized by white matter affection, but many individuals also have significant gray matter involvement. A double-inversion recovery pulse (DIR) pattern was recently proposed to improve the visibility of multiple sclerosis lesions. Objective: To find out how well a DIR sequence, FLAIR, and T2-weighted pulse sequences can find MS lesions in the supratentorial and infratentorial regions. Methods: A total of 37 patients with established diagnoses of multiple sclerosis were included in this cross-sectional study. Brain MRI was done using double inversion recovery, T2, and FLAIR sequences. The number of lesions was counted and compared in the three sequences. Results: The DIR sequence detected more infratentorial lesions when compared to the T2 and FLAIR sequences. In the supratentorial region, DIR detected more lesions than T2 and FLAIR. Conclusion: The DIR sequence is highly superior to both the T2 and FLAIR sequences in depicting the lesions, regardless of their anatomical distribution. Moreover, the DIR sequence detected more multiple sclerosis lesions in the infratentorial region than the traditional T2W and FLAIR sequences.