ABSTRACT
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays an essential role in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), is useful as a prognostic aid, has been accepted as a primary outcome measure in exploratory trials of the development of new drugs for possible use in disease management, is an essential supportive secondary outcome variable for drug registration and is valuable in the day to day management of the disease. This chapter reviews the use of conventional MRI (cMRI) as generally available to the practitioner, considers newer magnetic resonance (MR)-based tools that contribute to our understanding of MS pathology as defined by cMRI and explores the justification of the use of MRI in these settings.
