Table 1:

Brain MR imaging protocol

	Sequence	Diagnostic Scan for Clinically Isolated Syndrome	MS Baseline or Follow-up Scan	Comment
1	3 plane (or other) scout	Recommended	Recommended	Set up axial sections through subcallosal line^*
2	Sagittal Fast FLAIR	Recommended	Optional	Sagittal FLAIR sensitive to early MS pathology, such as in corpus callosum
3	Axial FSE PD/T2	Recommended	Recommended	TE₁ minimum (eg, ≤30 ms)
				TE₂ (usually ≥80 ms)
				PD series sensitive to infratentorial lesions that may be missed by FLAIR series
4	Axial Fast FLAIR	Recommended	Recommended	Sensitive to white matter lesions and especially juxtacortical–cortical lesions
5	Axial pregadolinium T1	Optional	Optional	Considered routine for most neuroimaging studies
6	3D T1	Optional	Optional	Some centers use this for atrophy measures.
7	Axial gadolinium-enhanced T1	Recommended	Optional	Standard dose of 0.1 mmol/kg injected over 30 s; scan starting minimum 5 min after start of injection

Note.—FSE indicates fast spin-echo (or turbo spin-echo); PD, proton density-weighted (long TR, short TE sequence); T2, T2-weighted (long TR, long TE sequence); T1, T1-weighted (short TR, short TE sequence). Section thickness for sequences 3–6 is ≤3 mm with no intersection gaps when feasible. Partition thickness for 3D sequence 6 is ≤1.5 mm. In-plane resolution is approximately ≤1 × 1 mm.
* The subcallosal line joins the undersurface of the front (rostrum) and back (splenium) of the corpus callosum.