CALSNIC-2 (Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium Study)

Nov 19, 2021

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Study Title

CALSNIC-2 (Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium Study)

Enrollment Status

Completed

Principal Investigators

PI: Sanjay Kalra, MD, PhD (University of Alberta)Site-PI: Michael Benatar, MD, PhD

Study Type

Natural History

Goals

  • Investigate, in a multi-center fashion, the usefulness of advancing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques as potential biomarkers for ALS.

Enrolling

ALS patients, Controls

Eligibility

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Affected: Individuals affected with ALS or a related neurodegenerative disorder, including ALS-FTD, PLS, and PMA.
Controls: Healthy controls 40-80 years old.

Study Involvement

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3 half-day study visits at UMiami over an 8-month period

  • Brief family and medical history review
  • MRI Scan
  • Neuropsychological testing
  • Speech Testing
  • Neurological Exam (Affected Participants only)
  • Breathing Testing (Affected Participants only)

Primary Funding Source

ALS Canada

Related Publications

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Baumeister TR, Westeneng HJ, van den Berg L; Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC); Kalra S, Iturria-Medina Y. Multimodal Neuroimaging-Guided Stratification in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Reveals Three Disease Subtypes: A Multi-Cohort Analysis. Hum Brain Mapp. 2025 Oct 1;46(14):e70341. [PubMed link: 40990258]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40990258

Parnianpour P, Harrison M, Benatar M, Briemberg H, Dionne A, Dupré N, Frayne R, Genge A, Graham SJ, Korngut L, Seres P, Wilman A, Zinman L; Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC); Kalra S. Progressive and short-interval changes observed in the corticospinal tract and corpus callosum of ALS patients: A texture analysis study. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2025 Sep 18:ajnr.A9013. Online ahead of print. [PubMed link: 40968018]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40968018

Müller HP, Abrahao A, Beaulieu C, Benatar M, Dionne A, Genge A, Frayne R, Graham SJ, Gibson S, Korngut L, Luk C, Welsh RC, Zinman L, Kassubek J, Kalra S. Temporal and spatial progression of microstructural cerebral degeneration in ALS: A multicentre longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging study. Neuroimage Clin. 2024;43:103633. Epub 2024 Jun 14. [PubMed link: 38889523

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38889523

Parnianpour P, Benatar M, Briemberg H, Dey A, Dionne A, Dupré N, Evans KC, Frayne R, Genge A, Graham SJ, Korngut L, McLaren DG, Seres P, Welsh RC, Wilman A, Zinman L, Kalra S. Mismatch between clinically defined classification of ALS stage and the burden of cerebral pathology. J Neurol. 2024 May;271(5):2547-2559. Epub 2024 Jan 28. [PubMed link: 38282082]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38282082

Kushol R, Luk CC, Dey A, Benatar M, Briemberg H, Dionne A, Dupré N, Frayne R, Genge A, Gibson S, Graham SJ, Korngut L, Seres P, Welsh RC, Wilman AH, Zinman L, Kalra S, Yang YH. SF2Former: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis identification from multi-center MRI data using spatial and frequency fusion transformer. Comput Med Imaging Graph. 2023 Sep;108:102279. [PubMed link: 37573646]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37573646

Bharti K, J Graham S, Benatar M, Briemberg H, Chenji S, Dupré N, Dionne A, Frayne R, Genge A, Korngut L, Luk C, Zinman L, Kalra S; Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC). Functional alterations in large-scale resting-state networks of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A multi-site study across Canada and the United States. PLoS One. 2022 Jun 16;17(6):e0269154.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35709100

McMillan CT, Wuu J, Rascovsky K, Cosentino S, Grossman M, Elman L, Quinn C, Rosario L, Stark JH, Granit V, Briemberg H, Chenji S, Dionne A, Genge A, Johnston W, Korngut L, Shoesmith C, Zinman L; Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC), Kalra S, Benatar M. Defining cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: an evaluation of empirical approaches. Amyotroph Lateral Scler Frontotemporal Degener. 2022 Mar 7:1-10. Online ahead of print.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35253557

Related Presentations & Lectures

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McMillan CT (presenter), Wuu J, Hennessy L, Placek K, Clinical Research in ALS (CRiALS) Study, Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development (CReATe) Consortium, Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (CALSNIC), Quinn C, Elman L, Grossman M, Rampersaud E, Wu G, Taylor JP, Kalra S, Benatar M. Frequency, hazard, and genetic risk factors of cognitive impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Invited presentation at the International Neuropsychological Society Annual Meeting (virtual), Feb 2-5, 2021.