This Article Full Text (OnlineFirst PDF) All Versions of this Article: 1352458507082353v1 1352458507082353v2 1352458507082353v3 14/2/197    most recent Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Ron, M. Articles by Cipolotti, L. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ron, M. Articles by Cipolotti, L. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Cognitive impairment in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis can be predicted by imaging performed several years earlier

¹ NMR Research Unit, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
² Department of Neuropsychology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

	Abstract

Cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis (MS) are common and correlate with contemporary MRI brain abnormalities, particularly atrophy, but the ability of imaging early in the disease to predict later cognitive impairment remains to be determined. Thirty relapsing-remitting MS patients recruited within three years of the onset of the disease, and in whom MRI had been performed at baseline and a year later, were assessed neuropsychologically five years later. Imaging parameters accounting for significant variance in cognitive performance were identified using multiple regressions, once confounding variables were controlled. Patients performed significantly worse than expected on tests of attention/speed of information processing and half of them had experienced some decline in IQ in relation to premorbid estimates. The rate of global brain atrophy in the first year of the study accounted for significant variance in the overall cognitive performance, and in memory and attention/speed of information processing. Poor performance on attention tests was associated with high T1-weighted lesion volume and reduced magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM). These results suggest that neuroaxonal loss was identified early in the disease, and its rate of progression, predicted cognitive impairment later in the disease. Neuroaxonal loss is likely to affect commissural and association fibres that subserve the cognitive processes impaired in MS.

Key Words: cognition; brain atrophy; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); multiple sclerosis

First published on November 6, 2007, doi:10.1177/1352458507082353

Multiple Sclerosis 2008;14:197.

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Calabrese, F. Agosta, F. Rinaldi, I. Mattisi, P. Grossi, A. Favaretto, M. Atzori, V. Bernardi, L. Barachino, L. Rinaldi, et al. Cortical Lesions and Atrophy Associated With Cognitive Impairment in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Arch Neurol, September 1, 2009; 66(9): 1144 - 1150. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]