Conditions: Multiple Sclerosis
Keywords: Inflammation Multiple Sclerosis Glatiramer Acetate Gd enhancing lesions 1.5T protocol 3T protocol Magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) Lesion activity analysis Copaxone
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 12
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
This study will:

* Explore whether GA decreases inflammation more on the 3T optimized protocol when compared to the 1.5T standard protocol.

  * Compare whether the decrease in the cumulative number of Gd-enhancing lesions significantly differs between pre-treatment (day 0) and post-treatment (12 months) using 1.5T standard and 3T optimized protocols.
* Investigate the correlation between MTR and the cumulative number and volume of Gd enhancing lesions on 1.5T standard and 3T optimized protocols in patients treated with GA.

This study suggests that GA may favorably affect early events in lesion formation, in addition to exerting more transient beneficial effects on established areas of inflammation and demyelination, and that this effect may be observed only with the 3T optimized protocol.

Detailed description:
Interferon-β (IFN- β) and glatiramer acetate (GA) are the two main groups of drugs used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Notably, while both ultimately decrease central nervous system (CNS) inflammation, they do so by very different mechanisms. Therefore, use of 1.5T MRI, triple dose of Gd, delay of scanning time for 20-30 min after Gd injection, and application of off-resonance saturated MT pulse may increase the ability to detect Gd lesions by approximately 120% when compared to 1.5T single dose MRI protocol. The 3T standard protocol may increase the ability to detect Gd enhancing lesions by 40-50% when compared to the 1.5T standard protocol. This may indicate that the 3T optimized protocol may increase the ability for Gd lesion detection by approximately 150-180%, when compared to the 1.5T standard protocol.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis who have the presence of at least 1 or more Gd enhancing lesions and/or acute relapse.

Interventions: intervention 1: Copaxone
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: 12 MS patients will be enrolled on GA (Copaxone®) monotherapy (20mg/day sc). Initial intravenous steroid treatment will be given on day 0. 1.5T and 3T scans will be obtained and according to the following schedule: 1 gm Solumedrol i.v. daily for three days. Intravenous steroids will be also allowed for treatment of MS attacks according to the following schedule: 1 gm Solumedrol i.v. daily for three days.

Protocol document: