In patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), remarkable cord gray matter (GM) atrophy is present at multiple cervical and lower thoracic levels, and may reflect widespread cord GM degeneration, according to an imaging study of 142 patients with MS and 20 healthy controls.
Investigators used phase-sensitive inversion recovery magnetic resonance imaging at 3T to measure total cord areas (TCAs), GM areas, and white matter (WM) areas at discs C2/3, C3/4, T8/9 and T9/10. They found:
• Patients with relapsing MS had smaller thoracic cord GM areas than controls.
• Patients with progressive MS showed smaller GM areas and TCAs compared with patients with RMS.
• All measurements were inversely correlated with Expanded Disability Status Scale scores.
• Thoracic cord GM areas correlated with lower limb function.
• In multivariable models, cervical cord GM areas had the strongest correlation with Expanded Disability Status Scale scores, followed by thoracic cord GM area and brain GM volume.
Citation: Schlaeger R, Papinutto N, Zhu AH, et al. Association between thoracic spinal cord gray matter atrophy and disability in multiple sclerosis. JAMA Neurol. 2015. doi: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2015.0993.