Heterogeneity of T-lymphocyte function in primary progressive multiple sclerosis: Relation to magnetic resonance imaging lesion volume

2000 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Prat ◽  
Daniel Pelletier ◽  
Pierre Duquette ◽  
Douglas L. Arnold ◽  
Jack P. Antel
2021 ◽  
pp. 62-64
Author(s):  
I. Vanessa Marin Collazo

A 58-year-old, right-handed man with a medical history of nephrolithiasis, essential hypertension, and type 2 diabetes sought care for a 6-year history of gait impairment. Initially, he noted subtle left foot and ankle weakness with associated falls that progressed over time. Two to 3 years later he again noted progressive left leg weakness and new arm weakness. Subsequently, progressive pain developed on the soles of his feet in addition to edema with erythematous discoloration around the left ankle and foot. On neurologic examination, he was found to have mild upper motor neuron pattern weakness in the left arm and leg, most pronounced in the left hand finger extensor and left hip flexion and abduction. Left patellar reflex was brisk, and there was an extensor Babinski sign on the left. There was mild reduction in pinprick sensation in both feet. His gait was spastic with left leg circumduction. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed left-sided predominant periventricular and subcortical T2 fluid-attenuated inversion recovery hyperintensities. Magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical and thoracic spinal cord showed intramedullary cord T2 signal hyperintensities, eccentrically located on the left at C3, C5, C6, on the right at C7 to T1, and centrally at T4/T5 and T8/T9. A diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis was made. The patient met the 2017 McDonald criteria for primary progressive multiple sclerosis. After the diagnosis was confirmed and comprehensive education about the disease and the role of disease-modifying therapy was discussed with the patient, he was started on ocrelizumab. Gabapentin was started for management of painful foot paresthesias. Vitamin D3 supplementation was started. Physical therapy was also initiated. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic immune-mediated demyelinating disease of the central nervous system and is the leading cause of disability in the young population. Approximately 1 million people in the United States currently have multiple sclerosis.


Author(s):  
Loren A. Rolak

Because no laboratory test or imaging study is both highly sensitive and highly specific for multiple sclerosis, some uncertainty often accompanies the diagnosis. Various guidelines have been developed to assist the clinician, including the much-modified and commonly used McDonald criteria. Typical features of the history, the physical examination, and magnetic resonance imaging findings usually allow for a secure diagnosis. However, limitations inherent in any testing modality still pose challenges. This is especially true for diagnosis of primary progressive multiple sclerosis because the sensitivity and specificity of the evaluations are lower.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
V L Stevenson ◽  
G T Ingle ◽  
D H Miller ◽  
A J Thompson

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become an accepted tool for monitoring therapeutic trials in relapsing-remitting and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS); it is however unclear whether such MRI markers are equally applicable to primary progressive MS (PPMS). Forty-two patients with PPMS were reviewed five years after commencing a two-year MRI and clinical study. Clinical measures recorded at baseline and five years included both the Expanded Disability Status Scale and the MS functional composite. MRI data collected at baseline and two years included T1 and T2 lesion loads, the number of new brain and cord lesions, and measures of both brain and cord atrophy. The study demonstrated that both the number of new T2 lesions and rate of increase in ventricular volume over two years were modestly predictive of subsequent disease progression and therefore may be useful tools in the testing of new therapeutic agents in PPMS.


2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Schmierer ◽  
Daniel R Altmann ◽  
Nadja Kassim ◽  
Hagen Kitzler ◽  
Christian M Kerskens ◽  
...  

In spite of marked disability, patients with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) display smaller lesion volumes on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) compared with other forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). Hence, damage to the normal-appear ing brain tissue (NA BT) may play an important role in explaining the patho genesis of disability in PPMS. Diffusion-weighted MRI (DW-MRI) probes water diffusion in vivo that can be altered by patho logic changes. Using DW-MRI we investigated diffusion in the NA BT of 15 patients with PPMS over one year. The average apparent diffusion coefficient (A DC av) was measured in 10 regions of interest located in the normal- appearing thalamus and the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM). Six healthy subjects served as a reference. In contrast to healthy subjects, patients with PPMS showed an increment within 12 months of the A DC av in NAWM which was associated with an increase of the T2- and T1-lesion volumes. The A DC av in frontal NAWM was associated with disability as measured by the MS Functio nal C omposite Measure. Serial DW-MRI depicts progressive changes in the NAWM of patients with PPMS. O ur preliminary findings suggest that the processes causing structural damage in NAWM and lesions in patients with PPMS are partially linked and that changes of water diffusion in NAWM depicted by DW-MRI are clinically relevant.


2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 1068-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Furby ◽  
T Hayton ◽  
V Anderson ◽  
D Altmann ◽  
R Brenner ◽  
...  

Background Neuroaxonal loss is a pathological substrate of disability in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and can be estimated in vivo by measuring tissue atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). While there is some evidence that brain atrophy correlates better with disability than T2 lesion load in secondary progressive MS, the clinical relevance of atrophy within specific regions of the central nervous system requires further evaluation. Methods Clinical and MRI examinations were performed in 117 subjects with secondary progressive MS. MRI analysis included measures of normalized brain volume (NBV), normalized grey matter (NGMV) and white matter volume (NWMV), central cerebral volume (CCV), spinal cord cross-sectional area (SCCA), and brain T2 and T1 lesion volume. Clinical assessments included the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) and MS functional composite (MSFC). Results All MRI measures correlated significantly with the MSFC score, with the strongest correlation being for the NBV ( r = 0.47; P < 0.001). NBV and SCCA were the only significant independent predictors of the MSFC score in a stepwise regression model containing all the MRI measures, and SCCA was the only MRI measure to show a significant association with the EDSS. While NGMV had stronger correlations with the clinical variables than NWMV, NBV was more correlated with clinical impairment than either measure. Conclusions This data suggests that measures of atrophy, particularly of the whole brain and spinal cord, are relevant and useful disease markers in secondary progressive MS.


1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 218-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
NA Losseff ◽  
DPE Kingsley ◽  
WI McDonald ◽  
DH Miller ◽  
AJ Thompson

The role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) remains unclear. In this study 21 patients with primary and secondary progressive MS were reviewed 5 years following a serial MRI study of 6 months duration. In the secondary progressive group (n=11) there was a significant relationship between the occurrence of enhancing lesions and clinical relapses during the initial 6 months and increase in diability 5 years later. For both groups change in disability over the initial study period was predictive of outcome. These results suggest that the presence and frequency of gadolinium enhancement (a marker of inflammation) and changes in disability over a short period are predictive of future deterioration in progressive patients.


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