Objective The analysis of the MR phase provides additional information on the tissue microstructure. In multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions phase alterations may reflect different stages of inflammatory activity. Here we investigated lesion morphology in MS patients with short and long disease duration on T2* weighted, phase, magnitude and susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) at 7 Tesla (T). Methods 17 MS or clinically isolated syndrome patients with short (<60 months) and 11 with long (>60 months) disease duration underwent 7T MRI. Lesions were subsequently analyzed side-by-side with regard to morphology and visibility on T2* weighted, SWI, magnitude and SWI-filtered phase images. Results 126 of 192 T2* weighted lesions (65.6%) were characterized by a phase alteration pattern, and hence could be differentiated on phase images. In detail, a significantly reduced proportion of lesions showing phase alterations was detectable in patients with longer disease duration (mean±SD 51±37%, range 0–100%) compared to patients with short disease duration (mean±SD 90±19.5%, range 50–100%, p = 0.003). Conclusion This cross-sectional study identified different patterns of phase changes in lesions of MS patients with short and long standing disease. Longitudinal studies are warranted to prove that MR phase imaging is useful in determining the activity and the developmental stage of individual MS plaques.
