T1 Black Holes and Gray Matter Damage.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become important in the early diagnosis and monitoring of various neurologic disorders including multiple sclerosis (MS). MRI has emerged as a key supportive therapeutic outcome measure in MS-related clinical trials. The limitations of conventional MRI surrogates have driven researchers to develop better biomarkers, including those capturing destructive aspects of the disease. In this chapter, we discuss the most recent data highlighting the role of hypointense lesions on T1-weighted images (black holes; BH) and gray matter (GM) damage in the MRI assessment of MS. We focus on the most relevant pathologic, MRI, and clinical correlation studies addressing BH and GM injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]