Key clinical point: The prevalence of enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) on magnetic resonance imaging is higher in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), with higher EPVS burden vs. controls. This supports a potential role of EPVS in MS etiopathogenesis and its use as marker with prognostic potential.
Major finding: Whole brain EPVSs were more common in patients with MS vs. controls (odds ratio [OR], 4.61; P = .001). Patients with MS had a larger EPVS volume (standardized mean difference [SMD], 0.88; P = .01), area (SMD, 0.79; P = .06), and count (SMD, 0.46; P less than .0001) compared with controls.
Study details: Systematic review and meta-analysis of 9 studies including 457 patients with MS and 352 control participants.
Disclosures: This study was supported by grants of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Region of Stockholm. The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Citation: Granberg T et al . J Neurol. 2020 Jun 13. doi: 10.1007/s00415-020-09971-5 .