title: Validation of linear cerebral atrophy markers in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: Linear measures of cerebral ventricular enlargement may act as surrogate measures of cerebral atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS). Linear atrophy markers were measured from routine MRI scans during a population survey of 171 Tasmanian MS patients and 91 healthy controls. Thirty-five Victorian MS clinic patients were recruited as a validation cohort with 14 of these re-assessed 4 years later. In the population survey, we measured three linear brain atrophy markers: inter-caudate distance (ICD), third ventricle width (TVW) and frontal horn width (FHW). TVW (OR 2.0, p=0.001) and ICD (OR 16.1, p<0.001) differentiated between MS cases and controls. In the validation study, we correlated the intercaudate ratio (ICR=ICD/brain width) and third ventricular ratio (TVR=TVW/brain width) with brain parenchymal volume. Cross-sectionally, ICR (R=-0.453, p<0.01) and TVR (R=-0.653, p<0.01) were correlated with brain parenchymal volume. Longitudinally, brain parenchymal volume loss was inversely correlated with increased ICD (R=-0.77, p<0.01) and TVW (R=-0.71, p<0.01). This study shows that ICD measurements obtained from clinical MRI scans are valid brain atrophy measures for use in monitoring MS progression.
authors: Multiple Sclerosis Clinical and Research Unit, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Butzkueven
authors: S C
authors: SC
authors: Kolbe
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Jolley
authors: J Y
authors: JY
authors: Brown
authors: M J
authors: MJ
authors: Cook
authors: I A F
authors: IA
authors: van der Mei
authors: P S
authors: PS
authors: Groom
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Carey
authors: J
authors: J
authors: Eckholdt
authors: J P
authors: JP
authors: Rubio
authors: B V
authors: BV
authors: Taylor
authors: P J
authors: PJ
authors: Mitchell
authors: G F
authors: GF
authors: Egan
authors: T J
authors: TJ
authors: Kilpatrick
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index