Robert I Grossman (1945-present)
Following on from Young's application of MRI to the study of MS, the next major development in this field was made in 1986 (18) by Robert Grossman, a radiologist working in Philadelphia, USA. Grossman found that when using the enhancing agent gadolinium-DPTA, some MRI lesions enhance while others do not.
Grossman recognised that the gadolinium enhancement identified breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, indicating areas of inflammation (18).
Gadolinium-enhanced MRI can therefore be used to identify new and active MS lesions, allowing for the first time, objective monitoring of disease activity at the CNS level (18). This is of value for following both the course of the disease and as a rapid and objective method of assessing the effectiveness of novel treatment modalities.
