title: Patients' stratification and correlation of brain magnetic resonance imaging parameters with disability progression in multiple sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to correlate the change in the lesion load (LL) and brain atrophy in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) with progression of clinical disability, represented by the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), and to test if stratification of patients according to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) criteria can increase the predictive ability of MRI for MS clinical development.
  
  
  METHODS
  181 patients with clinically definite relapsing-remitting MS underwent MRI for a period of up to 5 years. Grouping of patients according to the LL value at the study entry revealed a substantial increase in the Spearman rank correlation coefficient R.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the low LL cohort of patients, we found a statistically significant correlation (R up to -0.71 with p < 0.01) of a later increase in the EDSS score (years 4 and 5) with increased brain atrophy in the first 2 years. For the high LL group, we found a statistically significant correlation (R up to 0.72 with p < 0.01) of a later increase in the EDSS score (years 4 and 5) with an increase in the LL value in the first year.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that stratification of patients according to the MRI criterion (LL) can increase the predictive ability of MRI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, First Faculty of Medicine, General Teaching Hospital, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic. man.van@post.cz
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vaneckova
authors.forename: Zdenek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Seidl
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krasensky
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Havrdova
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Horakova
authors.forename: Ondrej
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Dolezal
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Burgetova
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult