부산대학교 도서관

Background Multiple sclerosis (MS) is characterized by demyelinating and degenerative processes within the central nervous system. Unlike conventional MRI,new advanced imaging techniques improve pathological specificity and better highlight the relationship between anatomical damage and clinical impairment. Objective To investigate the relationship between clinical disability and both grey (GM) and white matter (WM) regional damage in MS patients. Methods Thirty-six relapsing remitting-MS patients and 25 sex- and age-matched controls were enrolled. All patients were clinically evaluated by the Expanded Disability Status Scale and the Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite (MSFC) scale, which includes the 9-hole peg test (9HPT), the timed 25-feet walking test (T25FW) and the paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT). All subjects were imaged by a 3.0 T scanner: dual-echo fast spin-echo, 3DT1-weighted and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) sequences were acquired. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analyses were run for regional GM and WM assessment, respectively. T2 lesion volumes were also calculated, by using a semi-automated technique. Results Brain volumetric assessment of GM and DTI measures revealed significant differences between patients and controls. In patients, different measures of WM damage correlated each-other (p Conclusions Selective GM atrophy and widespread WM tracts damage are associated with functional impairment of upper-limb motion and cognition. The combined analysis of volumetric and DTI data may help to better understand structural alterations underlying physical and cognitive dysfunction in MS.
Author(s): Emilia Sbardella 1,2,*, Nikolaos Petsas 1,2, Francesca Tona 1, Luca Prosperini 1, Eytan Raz 1, Gianvito Pace 1, Carlo Pozzilli 1, Patrizia Pantano 1 Introduction In patients with Multiple [...]