Abstract
Demyelinating disorders are a group of diseases characterized by myelin loss. Normally, the white matter before the myelination process is hydrophilic (contains a lot of water), which is detected as high T2 signal intensity and low T1 signal intensity on MRI at birth. After axonal myelination, the white matter becomes hydrophobic (contains a lot of fat), producing normal MRI signal as high T1 and relatively low T2 signal intensities. In demyelinating diseases, the normal myelin is lost, making the affected parts of the white matter to be hydrophilic again, producing high signal intensity on T2W images (signal of water).
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Al-Tubaikh, J.A. (2010). Multiple Sclerosis and Other Demyelinating Diseases. In: Al-Tubaikh, J.A. (eds) Internal Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03709-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03709-2_13
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