ryt lil jl IntegratedMR lmagingand Proton NuclearMaqneticResonance in a FamilYwith an SpectroscoFy X-LinkedSpasticParaParesis syndromewere Seven membersof a family with an X-linkedspastic paraparesas DavidM. Youseml DavidH. Gutmann2 analyzed by MR imaging and stimulatedecho, solvent'suppressedproton nuclear symptomaticmalesand two BartonN. Milestonel magneticresonancespectroscopy.The MRscansof thtee whitematler. femalesdemonstratedabnormalsignalin the supratentorial asymptomatic RobertE. Lenkinskil patients protonspectroseopicexaminationol a2x 2 x 2 cm voxel Eachol these had a localizedto the abnormalwnite matterof the centrumsemiovale.The spectrademonand crea' ir-acetylaspartate/choline, strateddepressionol N-acetylaspartate/creatine, tine/cholineratioscomparedwith normalcontrolsubjects.Additionally,these patients hadabnormalelevationsof aminoacid resonancesin the 2.1-3.0ppmrange'ln a patient an asymmetricapectroscopic with symmetricwhitemattersignalintensityabnormalities, study correlatedwith asymmetricaymptoms.Oneasymptomaticlamily memberwith a She was referredfor normalMR study had abnormalmetaboliteratio measurements, furtherevaluation,sincethe protonspectrumsuggestedshe may possessthe affected 9ene. lf the lindingsin this studyare duplicatedin othercasesof hereditarydysmyelinating syndromes,we believethe integratedMR/protonnuclearmagneticresonancespectroscopy examinationwill be of benelit in evaluatingand counselingtamilieswith familia! disorders. dysmyelinating AJNR12:785-789,July/August1991 Received October10, 1990;revisionrequested January17, 1991;revisionreceivedFebruary6, 20, 1991. 1991i acceptedFebruary 1Department Hospitalof the Uniof Fadiology, 3400SpruceSt., Philadelversityof Pennsylvania, phia,PA 19104.Addressreprintrequests to D. M. Yousem" '?Department of lleurology,Hospitalof the thiPA 19104. Philadelphia, versityof Pennsylvania, 0195-6108/91/1204-0785 O AmericanSocietyot Neuroradiology The clinicalapplicationsand technlcalaspects of MR spectroscopyhave recently been reviewed in the literature [1, 2]. Over the past severalyears there has been increasing interest in using proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (PMRS) to study the metabolism of the brain [3-8]. Instead of a conventional anatomicimageof the brain, proton spectroscopyprovidesbiochemicalinformation concerninghydrogen-bearingnon-water metabolitesin the CNS, includingN-acetyl aspartate, the creatine-phosphocreatinepool, and choline-containingcompounds. The integrationof MR imaging with spectroscopy otfers the potential for a more comprehensiveevaluationof pathologicconditionsof the brain. Patients with diffuse dysmyelinating disorders are ideal subjects for PMRS studies becausethe area of abnormalityis easily sampledwithin the constraintsof relatively large voxel sizes. Voxels that include white matter without significant gray matter or ventricularCSF contaminationcan be sampled with a high degree of accuracy and assurance.In order to determinethe value of the integrated MR/ PMRS examinationin patientswith hereditarywhite matter disorders,we examined seven members of a pedigree with a complicated X{inked hereditary spastic paraparesis(HSP)syndrome [9]. Subjects and Methods form undescribed affectedwitha previously A familywithfivemalesin a singlegeneration has recentlybeenreported[9]. Thispedigree hereditary spasticparaparesis of complicated 786 YOUSEMET AL. AJNR:12, Juty/Augustj 991 Fig. l.-Pedigree of family with complicaled hereditary spastic paraparosi:, Males are represented by squares and temales by circles. Open squares and circles reptegent aiymptomatic indiyiduals while closed squares and circles represent aftected individuals. The agos of the indiyiduals are displayed beeide the circles or Squares. II 18 III IV is illustratedin Figure'l . The diseaseis characterized by speech eight-stepphaseryclingschemewas usedfor each90" orthogonal ditficulties, lowerlimbspasticity andhypereflexia, mentalretardation, pulsein the STEAMsequence and256 scanswereaveraged. Scan cerebellar ataxia,and{remor.The symptomsbeginin the first two timefor the PMRSdatacollection was4 min36 sec.Attemptswere decadesol lifeandprogressfor g to 6 yearsbeforestabilizing. Three madeto placethevoxelwithinareasof abnormal whitematterwithout of the four livingmalesaffectedby the disease0lt-2,lll-5, lll-7),as overlapping soft tissue,skull,ventricle, or graymatter.Two regions well as the asymptomatic mother(ll-2),sister(lll-3),maternaluncle of interestweresampledin threeof the patientsin identicalareasof (ll-3),andniece(lV-1),wereevatuated by MR and PMRS.A second the centrumsemiovale on oppositesidesof the brainwithoutvoxel asymptomatic sister(lll-4)andthefather(ll-1)wereevaluated by MR overlap.Onlyone regionof interestwas obtainablein four patients alone. owingto patienttimeconstraints. Thus,10 spectrafromthe family StandardMRexaminations inctuded sagittalshortTRfIE (600/20/ were availablefor analysis.Both sets of data in the threepatients. 1) andaxiallongTR sequences (9000/95,90/1) performed on a 1.S_ withtwo voxelswereusedin dataanalysis. T GESignascanner.Gradientmomentnulling(a flow-compensation technique), inferiorpresaturation pulses,and a variablebandwidth technique (4 KHzand,16 KHzto increasesignal-to-noise ratio)were Data Analysis employedon the longjTR images.In caselll-5,gadopentetate dimeglmine (0.1mmol/kg)wasadministered andpostcontrast shortTR/ Spectralanalysiswas performedon an AT&Tpersonatcomputer TE sequences with firstordergradientmomentnullingtechniques systemusingan analysispackagedeveloped in house,Thespectra wereperformed. wereevaluated withoutfittingroutinesapplied.Nobaseline conection MR imageswerereadby two neuroradiologists. Clinicalhistories programswereused,andonlyfirst-andsecond-order phaseconec_ werenot withheld.At the timeof the MR interpretation, the PMRS tions were used. In order to preventbias in the analysisof the clatawerenot available to the reviewers. spectra,28 spectrawere submittedfor analysisto three blinded Thecoordinates for sampling a2 x 2 x 2-cmvolume-olinterest in examiners. Thesespectraincludedmembersof the familywith the the affectedwhitematierof thecentrumsemiovale weredetermined white matterdisorder,normalcontrolsubjects,and patientswith fromthe MRimages.Voxellocalization wasconfirmedby a shortTR otherCNSdiseases.In five casesthe datafrom the samespectra (300/19)imageof the 2 x 2 x 2-cmvoxelin the axialplane(with weresubmittedtwicein orderto determine the reproducibility of the suppressionof all signaloutsidethe voxel and with no solvent examiners'results(threeof thesefive were membersof the HSp suppression) [6, 10, 11].Thevoxel'sX, y, andZ coordinates were family). verifiedon thisscanandthe localization of the sampledvolumewas The spectrawere blindlyanclindependently processedby two furtherconfirmedby addingthe imageof the voxelto the spin-echo investigators, andthespectrawereinterpreted bythreeinvestigators. rmageusing an algorithmdevelopedin houseon the GE Signa /V-acetylaspartate(NAA)to creatine/phosphocreatine (CR)ratios, scanner. NAAto choline{ontaining compound(CH)ratios,and CR/CHratios pMRS after giving werecomputedfor eachpatientby eachreviewerand the average . _Sevenfamilymembersunderwentlocalized informed consent.Gradient shimming (X,y, Z) wasaccomplishecl on valuesrecorded(Table1).To determinemetaboliteratios,the peak the 2 x 2 x 2 cm voxeland linewidthsrangedfrom 3.Sto 6.0 Hz heightsweremeasuredfrombaselineratherthanfromareasunder (<0.1 ppmvariation).rspectroscopic acquisitions weremadeby use curves,andthenonfittedspectrawereused.Additionally, thereviewof a stimulated echotechnique (STEAM)precededby chemicat shift erswereaskedto evaluatethe spectrafor the presenceof elevated selectivesolventsuppression pulsescenteredon watertollowedby aminoacidpeaksbetweenthe NAA(2.01ppm)and CR (3.02ppm) spoilergradients('l gauss/cmfor 4-g msec)performedin all three peaKs. axesto furtherreducecontributions fromthe waterprotons[g, 12, To provideestimatesof normalNAA/CR,NAAICH,and CR/CH 131.TR was2000msec,TE was 19 msec,andTM imiddleinterval ratios, sevennormalsubjectsalso had pMRS, and the imaging, betweensecondand thirdslice-selective pulses)was g.6 msec.An localization, and analysistechniqueswere identicalto those used AINR:12,July/August1991 787 MR AND PMRS SPASTICPARAPARESIS: TABLE 1: Resultsof PMRSStudies in Seven Family Members and Seven Controls lll-2, lll-5, llFT/Symptomatic,abnormalWM lF2, lll-3/Asymptomatic,abnormalWM lV-1/Asymptomatic,normalwM ll-3/Asymptomatic,normalWM Controls(n = 7) SD Elevated Amino Acids NM/CH Patient/Findings 1.0 1.1 't .1 'l.4 la .16 1.3 1.0 1.0 1.8 2.1 .17 1.3 0.9 0.9 l2 1.7 2.3 Yes Yes No NO No CH = choline-containingcompounds,WM = white matter, SD = standarddeviation. Note.-NAA = N-acetylaspartate,CR = creatine/phosphocreatine, MRexaminations hadnormal Thenormalvolunteers withthepatients. were Thevoxelsanalyzed symptoms. andwerewithoutneurologic to thosetakenin comparable at locations semiovale in thecentrum forthepresence werealsoanalyzed These volunteers theHSPfamily. in an aminoacidpeaksandtheirratioswerecomputed of elevated (Table 1). fashion bythesamethreeevaluators blinded identical Results MR intensityon the longTR sequenceswas Abnormalsignal patients, observedinthewhitematterof allthreesymptomatic theirmother,and two sisters.The white matterabnormality diffuse in thethreeatfectedpatientsconsistedof a prominent distributed confluentincreasein signalintensitysymmetrically white matter structures(Fig. 2). The in all supratentorial abnormalwhite matterdid not enhancein the one patient The motherand dimeglumine. who receivedgadopentetate on thelongTR images sistershadwhitematterhyperintensity althoughlimitedto the centrumsemiovale.The unaffected myelinon all pulseseniece(lV-1)had normal-appearing quences.Theuncle(ll-3)hadfocalareasof highsignalintensity in the peripheralwhite matter,which was thoughtto representsmallvesselischemicchangesin this 56-year-old Hiswhitematterappearance hypertension. withlong-standing was markedlydifferentfrom thoseof the atfectedpatients' MR Thefatherof the atfectedmaleshada normal-appearing exceptfor minorsmallvesselischemicchanges. examination He refusedspectroscopy. PMRS patients normaland abnormalMR studies.In asymptomatic with abnormalMR studies,the aminoacid peakswere elematterby MR vated.Thus,all patientswith abnormalwhite had elevatedaminoacid peaks.In patientswith normalMR studies,the aminoacids were normalin magnitude,even ratioswereoftenlow.ln the thoughthe measuredmetabolite niece(lV-1)thewhitematter,aminoacidpeaks, asymptomatic were normal,but the PMRS and neurologicexamination uncle Thenon-gene-bearing spectralratiosweredepressed. (ll-3)had a normalNM/CR ratio and minimallydepressed NAA/CHand CRICHratios, probablydue to a prominent cholinepeak. The averagedifferencesbetweenNM/CR, NAA/CH'and CR/CHratiosin controlsubjectsversusfamilymemberswith : : 15o/o, (2'1-1.1)12.1 were(1.3-1.1y1.3 thegenepresent : 41"/",respectively. 48o/", and('1.7-1.0111.7 In one patientthe MR resultsdemonstratedsymmetric white matterhigh signalon the long TR images,but the PMRSdatashowedthat, whileboth sidesof the braindemonstrateddepressedNM/CH and CR/CHpeaks,the right sideof the brainhad lowervaluesthan the left (Fig.2). The elevationsof aminoacid peakswere also morestrikingon wellwith findingscorrelated the rightside.Thespectroscopic increasedleft-sidedspasticityand hyperreflexianoted on physicalexamination. In all five patientswith diffuseabnormalsignalintensityof the white matter,the threeevaluatorsagreedthat elevated aminoacidpeaksin the 2.0-2.5 ppmrangewerepresent.All three evaluatorsagreedthat the amino acid peaks were normalin heightin sixof sevencontrolsubjects.Inonecontrol subject,one of the three evaluatorsreportedan elevated aminoacidpeak:the othertwo evaluatorsreportedno such elevation. Theresultsof the PMRSspectraaregivenin Table1. The membersof the familywith abnormalwhitemattersignal(lllNAA/CHand CR/CH Discussion 2, lll-3,lll-5,lll-7,ll-2)had depressed levelsandslightlydepressedNAA/CRratios.Becauseof the pulsesand By employingthreeorthogonalslice-selective of statisticallydifsmallnumberof subjects,an assessment ferentratiovaluesbetweenthe familymembersand normal spoilingall signalarisingoutsidethe intersectionof these pulses,one can obtaina well{ocdizedsamplingvolumefor volunteersis not possible.However,a trendis seenin that of thewater suppression presumably PMRSspectra[6, 10,11]. Chemical abnormalwhite the who bore thefamilymembers proton contributioncan result in a greaterthan 500{old mattergenehadmeanvaluesof NM/CH, NM/CR, andCR/ reductionin water-protonsignal.Voxelsas smallas 1'5 x CH that werebeyonda standarddeviationfrom normalvolthemain at ourinstitution; 1.5x 1.5cm havebeenemployed notablein the NM/CH and unteervalues.Thisis particularly in signalis the reduction volume small this in sampling cost (Table 1). CR/CHratios In all threeaffectedsymptomaticmembersof the family, to-noiseratio(SNR).ThisSNRreductioncanbecompensated Whilethis thenumberof samplingaverages. for by increasing elevatedamino acid peaks were detected,whereasthe pathologic andvery to specimens applicable is readily solution familymemberswere dividedinto thosewith asymptomatic 1991 AJNR:12, July/August YOUSEMET AL. 788 c 6.rt!.1 a Sttt I 6il1..1 bt0 $lft b.l 6..tc.l D E 2 $rlt bt.l F Fig. 2.-MR and PilRS images ot male (lll'2) wlth spastic paraParesis' highsignal in poeteriorlimbof intemalcap3ulesbilaterally(attow)' signalin demonstrates high (30fl!/90) through through intemit intemat capsule oapsule demonsirates image (30fl!/90.-) l,-lxia A, Axial Un ilR image g, Un image(SdOOieO) (iop]ett1dimonstratesabnormalintensitybilatlrallyin whiie matterof centrumsemiovale.STEAMscan(300/19)(top ttghtl ot on axialscan(bottomreft)to ensutecortectvoxellocaliza$on. the 2.x 2 x 2 cm voxelselectedtor specttoscopymaythenbe superimposed ot voxel in left cenirumeimiovaleie iupedmposedon axial(30d)/90)image.The voxelin B cottelateswith the sPectrumin C, STEAMscan(O0O/19) D, andthe voxelin C producedthe sPectrumin E depressionot NAA/CHan<lCR/CHratios.The valuesfor the dght voxel_wore1.0for NAA/CH D-F, protonspectrumot rijht voiet (D) demonstrates and t.i tor CR/iH, whereaso-nthe left iEi the NAA/CHwas 1.4and the.CR/CHwas 1.4as well,Notealsothe elevatedaminoacid peaks(anorvs)most striking on the right (D) side. compare uiittr pMRSspectrum(F) of noima'lvolunteer. All the spectra were acquircd with 10(XlHz sweep width' 1024 compl;xpoints,2--si rirpetitiontimes,and 256averages(32tijnis throughan eiEht-stepphase-iyclingprocedure).The spectrawereprocessedwith 2' Hz line-bioadening, zero-tillingto 2048poinE,Fouriel|tanstom, zero-and tirst-orderphasecorection. TEs increasesthe sensitivityof the STEAMsequenceto cooperative volunteers,the drawbackin potentialmotionas scanningtimesare extendedbecomesprohibitive.Because coupledspins (i.e., from protonsof the -CH2- groups of glutamine,gammaamino butyrate,valine,etc.) presentin of this,we haveselectedan 8-cm3volumethat allowsgood aminoacidsin the2-3 ppmrange.lt maybe usefulto analyze time. 5 min of scan in under 256 SNRwith samplingaverages theseaminoacidsin certainCNS disorderssuch as amino This volumeis well-suitedfor evaluatingpatientswith dysmyopamaplesyrupurinedisease,or mitochondrial acidurias, diseases,sincethe volumeof whitematterin the myelinating noise is increased TEs using shorter in drawback thies. The without skull, centrumsemiovaleallowsadequatesampling and increasededdy currentdistortion.Baselinecorrection ventricle,or graymattercontamination. andsmoothingprograms curvefittingtechniques, Theuseof shortTE valuesin our STEAMsequenceallows algorithms, but smallaminoacid peaks. critical to the all tend obscure to the increased SNRandlesssensitivityto T2 contributions the spectrain a more to analyze we tend reason, For this reduction of scan averages in SNRallows signal.Theincrease (orsamplesize),therebyreducingscantimesandsubsequent "raw"form.Thespectraarenot asattractive,andthebaseline fluctuates.but essentialdatais not "smoothed"out. patientmotion.In addition,we believethat the use of short AJNR:12, July/August1991 SPASTICPARAPARESIS:MR AND PMRS Becausethe processing of PMRSspectrais an operatordependent functionin mostinstitutions, we believethat the unbiased analysisof scandata,as in thisstudy(withblinded, independent, and multipleevaluators) is essentialto determinethevalidityof PMRSstudies.Thisis especially true of clinicalstudieswith a smallsamplesize,suchas haveappearedin thespectroscopy literatureto date. Theresultsof the PMRSstudyof this familyraiseseveral issues.The presenceof elevatedaminoacid peaks in the 2.1-2.5 ppm rangecorresponds to resonancesusuallyascribedto glutamine (2.14, 2.45),keto-glutarate s (2.44,2.23), (2.39),valine(2.27),GABA(2.25),andmethionine succinate (2.16,2.14) of thesepeakshasalsobeenseen [5].Elevation in patientswith activeplaquesof multipleselerosis[12]. In previouswork done in this institutionwe have found that plaquesof multiplesclerosis thatenhanceon MRoftenshow elevation of protonspectrapeaksin the 2J-23 ppm range (Grossman et al.Paperpresented 1989). at RSNA,November Theseplaquesarebelieved to represent areasof activeblood brainbanierbreakdownandactivemyelinolysis. The PMRS findingssuggestthat one may be samplingby-productsof (Grossman activemyelinbreakdown et al. RSNA1989)[12]. Suchpeakswerepresentin eachfamilymemberwho had abnormal whitematterdetectedon the imagingstudies(even in the women"carriers"who were asymptomatic). These peakswerenot presentin patientsor controlsubjectswho hadnormal-appearing whitematter. Analysisof the NAA/CR,NM/CH, and CR/CH ratios is madedifficultby residualwatercontamination, which may causefluctuations in the baselinedue to its overwhelming dominance of the MR signal.Althoughthe smallsamplesize inherentin analysis familygroupdoesnot of a seven-member permita rigorousstatisticalanalysis,we believethere are differences betweenthefamilyandthenormalvolunteers.We noteda trendthattheNM/CH ratioin patientswithabnormal whitematterwas almosthalfthat of the controls,and that theCR/CHratioalsoappeared to be slightlydepressed.Less definitive depression of the NM/CR ratiowas also present. Only throughPMRSevaluationof a larger populationof patientswith dysmyelinating disordersand normalcontrol subjectscan we conclusively state whetherthese findings aretypicalof whitematterdisorders. Thatthe NAAvaluesmaybe depressedis consistentwith the beliefthat NAAarisesin neurons,is essentialfor normal with brain brainfunctioning, anddepression of NAAcorrelates tissueloss[12, 13].Similarreductions in the absoluteconcentrations of cholineandcreatinewouldbe expectedin the diffuseneuroaxonal loss associatedwith white matter diseases. Theasymmetric exaggeration of PMRSabnormalityin the patientwho had symmetricwhitematterhighsignalabnormalityon MR imagessuggeststhat PMRSmay add informationto conventional MR for the assessmentof myelin abnormalities. Thismaybe translatedinto morepreciseand meaningful clinicalcorrelation. This patient'sPMRS abnorii $ li i* it .i_ iI t fil M & malitymorecloselyreflected hisclinical symptomatology than did his MRstudy. Anotherdilemmawas raisedwith regardto the asymptomaticniece(lV-1)whohada normalMRstudy,normalamino acid peaks,but depressionof NM/CH and CR/CHratios. The possibilitythat this womancarriesthe atfectedX gene signalintensityabnormality was sugbut hasnot manifested gestedto theclinician dealingwiththiskindred.lf thiscontributionof PMRSis verifiedin futurecasesand by chromoit will heralda moreactiverolefor PMRSin somalanalysis, geneticcounseling. Patientswith acquiredor inheriteddisordersof myelin providethe neuroradiologist with an excellentopportunityto examinethe full capabilityof combinedMR and PMRStechseenin the hereditary niques.The largeareaof abnormality metachrodisorders(Pelizaeus-Merzbacher, dysmyelinating Canavandisadrenoleukodystrophy, matic leukodystrophy, ease,Alexanderdisease,etc.) readilylendsitselfto PMRS. MR/PMRSstudymaybe helpfulin theevaluaAn integrated tion and subsequentgeneticcounselingof familiesaffected by thesedisorders. REFERENCES 1. WeinerMW. The promiseof magneticresonancespectroscopyfor medical diagnosis. /nvest Radiol 1988;23:253-261 2. Bottomley PA. 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