Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Research paper
Cortical pathology in multiple sclerosis patients with epilepsy: a 3 year longitudinal study
  1. M Calabrese1,
  2. P Grossi1,
  3. A Favaretto1,
  4. C Romualdi2,
  5. M Atzori1,
  6. F Rinaldi1,
  7. P Perini1,
  8. M Saladini1,
  9. P Gallo1
  1. 1The Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Veneto Region, First Neurology Clinic, Department of Neurosciences, University Hospital of Padova, Padova, Italy
  2. 2CRIBI, Biotechnology Centre, Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
  1. Correspondence to Dr M Calabrese, Multiple Sclerosis Centre, First Neurology Clinic, University of Padova, Via Giustiniani 5, Padova 35128, Italy; calabresem{at}hotmail.it

Abstract

Introduction The cause of epilepsy in multiple sclerosis (MS) has not yet been elucidated. The relevance of cortical pathology (cortical lesions and thickness) in MS patients with and without epilepsy was evaluated in a longitudinal study.

Methods 32 relapsing–remitting MS patients with epilepsy (RRMS/E) and 60 matched RRMS patients without epilepsy were included in a 3 year longitudinal study. The following clinical and MR parameters were analysed: Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), cognitive score (CS), cortical lesion (CL) number and volume, grey matter fraction (GMf), global cortical thickness (CTh), T2 white matter lesion volume (T2WMLV), new CLs and new WM lesions.

Results At baseline (T0), CLs were observed in 27/32 (84.4%) RRMS/E and in 26/60 (43.3%) RRMS (p<0.001) patients, and the RRMS/E group had a higher number (10.2±8.9 vs 4.5±2.4; p<0.001) and total volume (2.0±1.3 vs 0.7±0.8 cm3; p<0.001) of CLs compared with the RRMS group. No significant difference in T2WMLV was observed. Global CTh was lower in RRMS/E (2.12±0.19 vs 2.35±0.14 mm; p<0.001), and this group also showed a decline in cognition (CS 10.9±6.3 vs 6.2±3.5; p<0.001). After 3 years (T1), the RRMS/E group had a higher accumulation of new CLs (3.4±3.2 vs 1.2±1.1; p<0.001) and faster reduction of GMf (p=0.022) while the two groups did not differ in the number of new WM and new Gad+ lesions.

Discussion RRMS/E had a more severe and rapidly evolving cortical pathology (CLs and atrophy) compared with RRMS without epilepsy. The RRMS/E group was also characterised by more pronounced cognitive decline, higher EDSS and higher prevalence of men.

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests None.

  • Ethics approval The study was approved by the local ethics committees (Ethic Committee of Azienda Ospedaliera Of Padova).

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.