The objective of this study was to determine whether altered sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-) homeostasis could be visualized in periodic paralyses by using 7-T sodium 23 (23Na) and chlorine 35 (35Cl) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. This was performed with a 7-T whole-body system in patients with genetically confirmed hypokalemic periodic paralysis (Cav1.1-R1239H mutation, n = 5; Cav1.1-R528H mutation, n = 8) and Andersen-Tawil syndrome (n = 3) and in 16 healthy volunteers. Additionally, each participant underwent 3-T proton MR imaging on the same day by using T1-weighted, short-tau inversion-recovery, and Dixon-type sequences. Muscle edema was assessed on short-tau inversion-recovery images, fatty degeneration was assessed on T1-weighted images, and muscular fat fraction was quantified with Dixon-type imaging. Median muscular 23Na concentration was higher in patients with Cav1.1-R1239H (34.7 mmol/L, P < .001), Cav1.1-R528H (32.0 mmol/L, P < .001), and Kir2.1 (24.3 mmol/L, P = .035) mutations than in healthy volunteers (19.9 mmol/L). Median muscular normalized 35Cl signal intensity was higher in patients with Cav1.1-R1239H (27.6, P < .001) and Cav1.1-R528H (23.6, P < .001) than in healthy volunteers (12.6), but not in patients with the Kir2.1 mutation (14.3, P = .517). When compared with volunteers, patients with Cav1.1-R1239H and Cav1.1-R528H showed increased muscular edema (P < .001 and P = .003, respectively) and muscle fat fraction (P < .001 and P = .017, respectively).
