British Isles survey of multiple sclerosis in twins: MRI.
64/105 subjects who have a twin with multiple sclerosis included in a study of clinical concordance also underwent MRI of the brain. 8/23 monozygotic and 1/41 dizygotic co-twins from this subgroup were clinically concordant of whom 8/9 had MRI appearances typical of multiple sclerosis. Of the 48 clinically discordant twins aged less than 60, abnormalities on MRI were detected in 6/15 (40%) monozygotic and 13/33 (39%) dizygotic twins compared with 7/37 (19%) healthy age-matched controls. Abnormalities on MRI typical of multiple sclerosis (defined by the Fazekas criteria) were, however, present in only 2/15 (13%) monozygotic and 3/33 (9%) dizygotic twins and 0/37 controls. These results suggest that about 10% of monozygotic and dizygotic twins have "subclinical multiple sclerosis". It is likely that most of the MRI abnormalities seen in clinically discordant twins, however, represent incidental pathology.
Thorpe
J W
JW
Multiple Sclerosis NMR Research Group, Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London, UK.
Mumford
C J
CJ
Compston
D A
DA
Kendall
B E
BE
MacManus
D G
DG
McDonald
W I
WI
Miller
D H
DH
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D004200:Diseases in Twins; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006113:United Kingdom