Key clinical point: The number of T1-hypointense areas (T1-count), corrected for T2-fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR)-hyperintense lesion volume, reflects the disease severity and activity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Major finding: T1-count (Spearman’s correlation coefficient [rho] = 0.51, P less than .001), gray-matter atrophy (rho = 0.40; P less than .01), and white-matter atrophy (rho = 0.49; P less than .001) significantly correlated with the expanded disability status scale. T1-count divided by FLAIR lesion volume correlated with the MS severity score (rho = 0.60; P less than .001).
Study details: This study included 42 patients with MS who were treated in a single university hospital in Japan; each patient underwent brain volumetry and was followed-up for more than 3 years until 2017.
Disclosures: Ichiro Nakashima was funded by JSPS KAKENHI. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Citation: Akaishi T et al. PLoS One. 2020 Apr 3. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231225.