Investigating the Relationship Between Cortical Grey Matter Hypoxia and Disability in Multiple Sclerosis
Date
2020-06-24
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Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease characterized by inflammation and neurodegeneration. These pathological processes may be mediated by hypoxia, or reduced oxygenation. Thus, hypoxia may contribute to disability and therapeutic outcomes in MS. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) non-invasively measures absolute cortical oxygenation and can be used to quantify hypoxia. The goal of this thesis was to characterize the prevalence of grey matter (GM) hypoxia in people with MS (PwMS) using NIRS and to relate hypoxia to disability and treatment with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs). Results indicate that 30% of PwMS exhibit hypoxia, which is unexpectedly more common in patients treated with DMTs than untreated subjects. However, no clear association between hypoxia and physical or cognitive disability was observed. Therefore, GM hypoxia may reflect subclinical disease activity, although this needs to be explored. Overall, this thesis validates that NIRS bears potential for clinical use as an adjunctive imaging modality in MS.
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Keywords
multiple sclerosis, hypoxia, near-infrared spectroscopy
Citation
Evans, T. (2020). Investigating the Relationship Between Cortical Grey Matter Hypoxia and Disability in Multiple Sclerosis (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.