Slowly expanding/evolving lesions as a magnetic resonance imaging marker of chronic active multiple sclerosis lesions.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Chronic lesion activity driven by smoldering inflammation is a pathological hallmark of progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). OBJECTIVE:To develop a method for automatic detection of slowly expanding/evolving lesions (SELs) on conventional brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and characterize such SELs in primary progressive MS (PPMS) and relapsing MS (RMS) populations. METHODS:We defined SELs as contiguous regions of existing T2 lesions showing local expansion assessed by the Jacobian determinant of the deformation between reference and follow-up scans. SEL candidates were assigned a heuristic score based on concentricity and constancy of change in T2- and T1-weighted MRIs. SELs were examined in 1334 RMS patients and 555 PPMS patients. RESULTS:Compared with RMS patients, PPMS patients had higher numbers of SELs (p?=?0.002) and higher T2 volumes of SELs (p?

SUBMITTER: Elliott C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6876256 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature