Introduction:

Traditionally, T2 long echo time sequences are used for the evaluation of spinal cord lesions in multiple sclerosis. There are other sequences, like proton density (first echo of T2) that may be useful in the axial plane but have not been sufficiently studied.

Objectives:

To establish the agreement between axial PD and T2 sequences in cervical spinal cord lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Methods:

This is a concordance study between axial PD and T2 sequences in a 1.5 Tesla magnet. The images were reviewed by two radiologists, who determined the number of lesions and signal intensity with the Contrast to Noise Ratio. The comparison was made with the Lin’s concordance correlation coefficient.

Results:

56 patients were evaluated, 30.36% men and 69.64% women; there were 210 lesions with PD vs 144 with T2, LCC for the number of lesions was 0.72 (95% CI: 0.6-0.82, SE 0.05) and for conspicuity was 0.62 (95% CI: 0.48-0.75, SE 0.05).

Conclusion:

This study did not find a satisfactory agreement in the evaluation of the number or signal intensity between PD and T2. Recent research has shown superiority of PD over T2 in other planes, suggesting that further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of PD in the axial plane.