title: Spinal cord lesions in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis - Magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of our study was to determine the prevalence of spinal cord lesions revealed by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in children and adolescents with clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively evaluated the spinal cord magnetic resonance examinations in a group of MS patients consisting of 58 children (37 girls and 21 boys) aged from 7 to 17.8 years (mean 13.7 years). All children met the criteria of clinically definite MS and had typical MS lesions revealed in the brain imaging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Spinal cord lesions, regardless of localization, were identified in 36 (62%) patients. In 22 of 58 patients (38%) no lesions were observed. The plaques were found in the cervical spinal cord and the thoracic spinal cord in 30 out of 36 (86.1%) and in 31 out of 36 (88.6%) patients, respectively. Contrast enhancement was noticed in 10 out of 36 patients (27.7%) and was not correlated with the number of lesions present. We noticed a tendency to higher EDSS score in patients with lesions in more than 1 spinal cord region. Our study showed that spinal cord lesions are more frequently present in patients with complex neurological disability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of spinal cord lesions in children and adolescents with MS is high. Therefore, spinal cord MRI should be included in diagnostic program of MS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Children's Health Memorial Institute, Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: joanna.ewa.debska@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dębska
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Epileptology, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Katarzyna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kotulska-Józwiak
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Children's Health Memorial Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pawliszak
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Epileptology, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bilska
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Epileptology, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Dariusz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chmielewski
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Epileptology, The Children's Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Iwona
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Puzio
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Children's Health Memorial Institute, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jurkiewicz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D020529:Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*
keywords: Adolescents; Children; Magnetic resonance imaging; Multiple sclerosis; Spinal cord