title: Patterns of regional gray matter and white matter atrophy in cortical multiple sclerosis.
abstract: We investigated the patterns of regional distribution of focal lesions, white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) atrophy in patients with cortical (cort) MS in comparison to classical (c) MS patients. Nine cort-MS, nine c-MS and nine age-matched healthy controls (HC) underwent a brain MRI exam, including FLAIR and high-resolution T1-weighted scans. MS patients underwent neurological and neuropsychological assessment. Between-group differences of GM and WM volumes and their correlations with neuropsychological performances were assessed with voxel-based morphometry. FLAIR and T1 lesion probability maps (LPMs) were also obtained. Performance at neuropsychological tests was worse in cort-MS than in c-MS patients. Compared to HC, MS patients had a distributed pattern of GM and WM atrophy. No GM/WM area was more atrophic in c-MS vs cort-MS patients. Compared to c-MS, cort-MS patients experienced GM atrophy of frontal-temporal-parietal areas and cingulate cortex and WM atrophy of the cingulum bundle, bilateral cerebral peduncles, right inferior longitudinal fasciculus and left superior longitudinal fasciculus. FLAIR and T1 LPMs did not differ between c-MS vs cort-MS patients. A higher susceptibility to neurodegenerative processes in key brain regions known to be related to cognitive functions is likely to underlie the clinical manifestations of cort-MS.
authors: Neuroimaging Research Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy.
authors: Laura
authors: L
authors: Parisi
authors: Maria A
authors: MA
authors: Rocca
authors: Flavia
authors: F
authors: Mattioli
authors: Gianna C
authors: GC
authors: Riccitelli
authors: Ruggero
authors: R
authors: Capra
authors: Chiara
authors: C
authors: Stampatori
authors: Fabio
authors: F
authors: Bellomi
authors: Massimo
authors: M
authors: Filippi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*