title: Is there any relation between cervical cord plaques and discopathy in patients with multiple sclerosis?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the site of the cervical discopathy and cervical spinal cord plaque in MS patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective study included all patients with a definite diagnosis of MS who were treated at an outpatient clinic between September 2004 and September 2011. All patients underwent cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for primary investigation of the disease. Cervical MRI scans were evaluated for detection of any evidence of cervical discopathy and cervical MS plaques. Any correlation between the site of the MS lesions and discopathy was recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From 536 patients who were involved in the study, 214 patients had both cervical discopathy and cervical cord plaques. In this group 148 (69.1% of patients) had cervical plaque at the same site of cervical discopathy. The number of patients with cervical cord plaque and discopathy at same site was significantly higher than those with plaque and discopathy at different sites (P<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study data suggests a possible correlation between cervical discopathy and cervical MS plaque.
authors.affiliation: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nikseresht
authors.affiliation: Resident of Neurology, Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Electronic address: Maryam_sharifian@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharifian
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Sadegh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izadi
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, Shreveport, USA.
authors.forename: Alireza
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hamidian Jahromi
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Health Sciences, Department of Epidemiology, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rezaianzadeh
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D066193:Cervical Cord / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cervical cord lesions; Discopathy; MRI; Multiple sclerosis; Spinal cord symptoms