Juxtacortical Paramagnetic Rim: A New MRI Marker to Characterize Focal Cortical Pathology in Multiple Sclerosis?

Abstract

The accumulation of focal white matter and cortical inflammatory demyelinating lesions represents the pathologic hallmark of multiple sclerosis (MS).¹ Typically, acute white matter lesions are characterized by an increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, an inflammatory infiltrate, and ongoing demyelination and axonal transection.² In the chronic phase, a substantial proportion of white matter lesions, known as chronic active lesions, exhibit a hypocellular core with a rim of iron-laden activated microglia/macrophages, with no abnormal BBB permeability.² Some of these lesions can be identified on susceptibility-based MRI as exhibiting a paramagnetic rim, and they are, therefore, referred to as "paramagnetic rim lesions" (PRLs).³.