Speaker: Alex Rovira, Neuroradiologist, Hospital Vall d'Hebron. Barcelona
What inspired you to be part of the Scientific Programme at ECTRIMS 2022?
Alex Rovira: Hello. My name is Alex Rovira, and I am the Head of the Neuroradiology of the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. I would like to invite you to my presentation at ECTRIMS 2022 where I will be presenting the updated international consensus guidelines on the use of MRI for diagnosis, prognosis, and disease monitoring in Multiple Sclerosis, which has been recently published in Lancet Neurology. These guidelines merged recommendations from three different scientific organisations, two from North America names and the the Consortium of MS Centres and one from Europe MAGNIMS and are based on new evidence. The recommended MRI protocols are simple and short, making them easy to use in clinical practise. They also reduce the need of using gadolinium-based contrast agents for monitoring purposes and address current limitations of spinal cord MRI for monitoring purposes and advance and quantitative MRI based measures. To summarise, these recommendations have made an important step towards a better harmonisation of indications, image acquisition and interpretation of MRI in routine clinical practise. And translated recent research findings to clinical practise to improve the use of MRI for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of individuals with MS.
What key insights do you plan to share during your session?
Alex Rovira: During my presentation, I will share some recommendations and the mandatory and optional sequences that should be used for diagnosis and monitoring purposes, on indications and the use of gadolinium-based contrast agents and on the optimal timing of follow-up MRIs. Finally, we will also discuss the value and limitations of spinal cord MRI for monitoring the disease.
