Lipid profiles are associated with lesion formation over 24 months in interferon-β treated patients following the first demyelinating event.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of serum lipid profile with disease progression in high-risk clinically isolated syndromes (CIS) after the first demyelinating event.

Methods: High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC) were obtained in pretreatment serum from 135 high risk patients with CIS (≥ 2 brain MRI lesions and ≥ 2 oligoclonal bands) enrolled in the Observational Study of Early Interferon β-1a Treatment in High Risk Subjects after CIS study (SET study), which prospectively evaluated the effect of intramuscular interferon β-1a treatment following the first demyelinating event. Thyroid stimulating hormone, free thyroxine, 25-hydroxy vitamin D3, active smoking status and body mass index were also obtained.

Evolution of cortical and thalamus atrophy and disability progression in early relapsing-remitting MS during 5 years.

Background And Purpose: Pathologic changes in GM have an important role in MS. We investigated the association between SDGM and cortical volume changes and disability progression in early RRMS.

Materials And Methods: One hundred eighty patients with RRMS had clinical assessment during 5 years and were divided into those with or without SDP at 5 years by the usual definition in treatment trials.

Influence of personality on the relationship between gray matter volume and neuropsychiatric symptoms in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: Research has revealed an association between personality traits and health outcomes, and in multiple sclerosis (MS), there are preliminary data showing a correlation between personality traits and brain volume. We examined the general hypothesis that personality influences the relationship between gray matter volume (GMV) and cognitive/neuropsychiatric MS features.

Methods: Participants were 98 patients with MS who underwent magnetic resonance imaging and were tested with the Symbol Digit Modalities Test and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, the latter providing measures of depression and euphoria that can be characteristic of MS, that is, cheerful indifference and disinhibition.

Clinical significance of atrophy and white matter mean diffusivity within the thalamus of multiple sclerosis patients.

Background: Gray-matter (GM) atrophy is strongly predictive of cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The thalamus is the region where the atrophy/cognition correlation is most robust. However, few studies have assessed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics within the thalamus.

Interdependence and contributions of sun exposure and vitamin D to MRI measures in multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: To assess the relationships of sun exposure history, supplementation and environmental factors to vitamin D levels in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and to evaluate the associations between sun exposure and MRI measures.

Methods: This study included 264 MS patients (mean age 46.9±10 years, disease duration 14.

Bimonthly Evolution of Cortical Atrophy in Early Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis over 2 Years: A Longitudinal Study.

We investigated the evolution of cortical atrophy in patients with early relapsing-remitting (RR) multiple sclerosis (MS) and its association with lesion volume (LV) accumulation and disability progression. 136 of 181 RRMS patients who participated in the Avonex-Steroids-Azathioprine study were assessed bimonthly for clinical and MRI outcomes over 2 years. MS patients with disease duration (DD) at baseline of ≤24 months were classified in the early group (DD of 1.

Environmental factors associated with disease progression after the first demyelinating event: results from the multi-center SET study.

Objectives: To investigate the associations of environmental MS risk factors with clinical and MRI measures of progression in high-risk clinically isolated syndromes (CIS) after the first demyelinating event.

Methods: We analyzed 211 CIS patients (age: 28.9±7.

Gray matter SWI-filtered phase and atrophy are linked to disability in MS.

The association between clinical outcomes and abnormal susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)-filtered phase, indicative of increased iron content, as well as atrophy, was investigated in the subcortical deep-gray matter (SDGM) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. 149 relapsing-remitting (RR) and 61 secondary-progressive (SP) MS patients underwent SWI on a 3T scanner. Mean phase of the abnormal phase tissue (MP-APT) and normalized volumes were determined for the total and region-specific SDGM structures.

Verbal memory is associated with structural hippocampal changes in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease.

Background And Objective: Cognitive impairment, including impairment of episodic memory, is frequently found in newly diagnosed Parkinson's disease (PD). In this longitudinal observational study we investigated whether performance in memory encoding, retention, recognition and free recall is associated with reduced hippocampal radial distance.

Methods: We analysed baseline T1-weighted brain MRI data from 114 PD subjects without cognitive impairment, 29 PD subjects with mild cognitive impairment and 99 normal controls from the ParkWest study.

Anti-phospholipid antibodies are associated with response to interferon-beta1a treatment in MS: results from a 3-year longitudinal study.

Objectives: To prospectively investigate the associations of baseline serum anti-phospholipid antibody (APLA) status on evolution of clinical and MRI measures in a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient cohort treated with interferon-beta (IFN-beta).

Methods: Forty-seven relapsing-remitting (RR) MS patients, [26 APLA-positive (APLA(+)) and 21 APLA-negative (APLA(-))] matched for age, sex, disease duration, MRI characteristics, disability, and time on IFN-beta treatment, were enrolled. All patients were on intramuscular (IM) IFN-beta1a for at least 3 years and remained on the same treatment over the 3-year duration of the study.

Iron content of the pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus is increased in adolescent multiple sclerosis.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to assess abnormal phase values, indicative of increased iron content, using susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)-filtered phase of the subcortical deep gray matter (SDGM) in adolescent multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders (OND) patients, and in healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Twenty adolescent MS and eight adolescent OND patients and 21 age- and sex-matched HC were scanned on a 3T GE scanner. Mean phase of abnormal phase tissue (MP-APT), MP-APT volume, normal phase tissue volume (NPTV) and normalized volume measurements were obtained for total SDGM, as well as specific structures separately.

Improved assessment of multiple sclerosis lesion segmentation agreement via detection and outline error estimates.

Background: Presented is the method "Detection and Outline Error Estimates" (DOEE) for assessing rater agreement in the delineation of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions. The DOEE method divides operator or rater assessment into two parts: 1) Detection Error (DE) -- rater agreement in detecting the same regions to mark, and 2) Outline Error (OE) -- agreement of the raters in outlining of the same lesion.

Methods: DE, OE and Similarity Index (SI) values were calculated for two raters tested on a set of 17 fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) images of patients with MS.

Comparison of standard 1.5 T vs. 3 T optimized protocols in patients treated with glatiramer acetate. A serial MRI pilot study.

This study explored the effect of glatiramer acetate (GA, 20 mg) on lesion activity using the 1.5 T standard MRI protocol (single dose gadolinium [Gd] and 5-min delay) or optimized 3 T protocol (triple dose of Gd, 20-min delay and application of an off-resonance saturated magnetization transfer pulse). A 15-month, phase IV, open-label, single-blinded, prospective, observational study included 12 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis who underwent serial MRI scans (Days -45, -20, 0; the minus ign indicates the number of days before GA treatment; and on Days 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 270 and 360 during GA treatment) on 1.

Cine cerebrospinal fluid imaging in multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: To investigate cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics in the aqueduct of Sylvius in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and healthy controls (HC) using cine phase contrast imaging.

Materials And Methods: In all, 67 MS patients (48 relapsing-remitting [RR] and 19 secondary-progressive [SP]), nine patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), and 35 age- and sex-matched HC were examined. CSF flow and velocity measures were quantified using a semiautomated method and compared with clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) disease outcomes.

No association between conventional brain MR imaging and chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency in multiple sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: CCSVI has been reported to occur at high frequency in MS. Its significance in relation to MR imaging parameters also needs to be determined, both in patients with MS and HCs. Therefore, this study determined the associations of CCSVI and conventional MR imaging outcomes in patients with MS and in HCs.

Subcortical and cortical gray matter atrophy in a large sample of patients with clinically isolated syndrome and early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Background And Purpose: Recent studies have shown that selective regional, but not global, GM atrophy occurs from clinical onset to conversion to clinically definite MS. Our aim was to investigate the difference in the extent of SDGM and cortical atrophy in a large sample of patients with CIS and early RRMS and to explore the relationship between SDGM and cortical atrophy and other MR imaging and clinical outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred twelve patients with CIS recruited at the first clinical event (mean age, 29.

Iron deposition on SWI-filtered phase in the subcortical deep gray matter of patients with clinically isolated syndrome may precede structure-specific atrophy.

Background And Purpose: Increasing evidence suggests that iron deposition is present in the later stages of MS. In this study we examined abnormal phase values, indicative of increased iron content on SWI-filtered phase images of the SDGM in CIS patients and HC. We also examined the association of abnormal phase with conventional MR imaging outcomes at first clinical onset.

Iron deposition in multiple sclerosis lesions measured by susceptibility-weighted imaging filtered phase: a case control study.

Purpose: To investigate phase lesions identified on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)-filtered phase images in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) and healthy controls (HC). To relate phase lesion characteristics to other clinical and MRI outcomes.

Materials And Methods: 95 relapsing-remitting (RR), 40 secondary-progressive (SP) MS patients, as well as 19 CIS patients and 49 age- and sex-matched HC, were scanned on a 3T scanner.

Magnetization transfer imaging of acute black holes in patients on glatiramer acetate.

The aim of this study was to determine evolution of T1 unenhanced hypointense lesions (acute or chronic black holes (ABHs, CBHs)) by measuring their magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) changes over 12 months. 40 glatiramer acetate (GA)-naive patients with relapsing-remitting MS who presented with 1 or more contrast-enhancing lesions (CELs) at baseline underwent 1.5-T MRI at baseline and after 12 months.

Voxel-wise magnetization transfer imaging study of effects of natalizumab and IFNβ-1a in multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To determine the effects of intravenous natalizumab and intramuscular interferon beta-1a (IFNβ-1a) on the volume of white-matter (WM) lesions and normal appearing brain tissue (NABT) undergoing voxel-wise (VW) increases in magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) suggestive of remyelination in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis.

Methods: This prospective, open-label, single-blinded study enrolled patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (RSPMS) as well as a group of age/sex-matched healthy controls (n=22). Patients with multiple sclerosis were assigned to receive natalizumab monotherapy (n=77; RRMS/RSPMS) or intramuscular IFNβ-1a (n=26) as either monotherapy (RRMS) or combined with pulsed i.

Decreased brain venous vasculature visibility on susceptibility-weighted imaging venography in patients with multiple sclerosis is related to chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency.

Background: The potential pathogenesis between the presence and severity of chronic cerebrospinal venous insufficiency (CCSVI) and its relation to clinical and imaging outcomes in brain parenchyma of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients has not yet been elucidated. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between CCSVI, and altered brain parenchyma venous vasculature visibility (VVV) on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) in patients with MS and in sex- and age-matched healthy controls (HC).

Methods: 59 MS patients, 41 relapsing-remitting and 18 secondary-progressive, and 33 HC were imaged on a 3T GE scanner using pre- and post-contrast SWI venography.

Serum lipid profiles are associated with disability and MRI outcomes in multiple sclerosis.

Background: The breakdown of the blood-brain-barrier vascular endothelium is critical for entry of immune cells into the MS brain. Vascular co-morbidities are associated with increased risk of progression. Dyslipidemia, elevated LDL and reduced HDL may increase progression by activating inflammatory processes at the vascular endothelium.

Abnormal subcortical deep-gray matter susceptibility-weighted imaging filtered phase measurements in patients with multiple sclerosis: a case-control study.

Objective: To investigate abnormal phase on susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI)-filtered phase images indicative of iron content, in subcortical deep-gray matter (SDGM) of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and healthy controls (HC), and to explore its relationship with MRI outcomes.

Methods: 169 relapsing-remitting (RR) and 64 secondary-progressive (SP) MS patients, and 126 age- and sex-matched HC were imaged on a 3T scanner. Mean phase of the abnormal phase tissue (MP-APT), normal phase tissue volume (NPTV) and normalized volume were determined for total SDGM, caudate, putamen, globus pallidus, thalamus, pulvinar nucleus of thalamus (PVN), hippocampus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, red nucleus and substantia nigra.

Basal ganglia, thalamus and neocortical atrophy predicting slowed cognitive processing in multiple sclerosis.

Information-processing speed (IPS) slowing is a primary cognitive deficit in multiple sclerosis (MS). Basal ganglia, thalamus and neocortex are thought to have a key role for efficient information-processing, yet the specific relative contribution of these structures for MS-related IPS impairment is poorly understood. To determine if basal ganglia and thalamus atrophy independently contribute to visual and auditory IPS impairment in MS, after controlling for the influence of neocortical volume, we enrolled 86 consecutive MS patients and 25 normal controls undergoing 3T brain MRI and neuropsychological testing.

HLA DRB1*1501 is only modestly associated with lesion burden at the first demyelinating event.

Objectives: The presence of MRI lesions at the first demyelinating event increases the risk of developing clinically definite multiple sclerosis (MS). The HLA DRB1*1501 genotype is linked to MS susceptibility but its relationship to quantitative MRI parameters at the first demyelinating event has not been assessed. The objectives were to assess the associations between HLA DRB1*1501 status and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures in clinically isolated syndromes (CIS) at the first demyelinating event.