[Brain atrophy in clinically isolated syndrome].
BACKGROUND
Previous reports have shown that brain atrophy appears early in the course of multiple sclerosis (MS). The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether brain atrophy already exists in clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) by comparing with a control sample.


METHODS
Patients with CIS were included prospectively from June 2008 to June 2009. A control group of healthy persons, matched by age and gender with CIS, was also included during the same period of time. An automated analysis tool, SIENAX, was used to obtain total brain volume (TBV), gray matter volume (GMV) and white matter volume (WMV). Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the data.


RESULTS
Twenty CIS patients and 30 healthy controls were included (8 vs. 17 females, p=0.11). Mean age for CIS was 35 ± 6 years vs. 34.4±5 in controls (p=0.61). Mean EDSS in CIS was 1.1 ± 0.5. Eighteen patients with CIS (90%) had abnormal baseline MRI. The TBV in CIS was 1.6.l ± 0.22.l × 106 vs.1.65 ± 0.15 × 106 in controls (p=0.005), the GMV in CIS was 0.58 ± 0.05 × 106 vs. 0.67 ± 0.03 × 106 in controls (p ≤ 0.001) and the WMV in CIS was 1 ± 0.1 × 106 vs. 1.12 ± 0.02 × 106 in controls (p=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first study dealing with brain atrophy in a CIS sample from Latin America in which brain atrophy, mainly grey matter atrophy, was shown in early stages of the disease compared with healthy individuals.
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Italiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina. juan.rojas@hospitalitaliano.org.ar
J I
JI
Rojas
L
L
Patrucco
C
C
Besada
L
L
Bengolea
E
E
Cristiano
D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D019636:Neurodegenerative Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013577:Syndrome