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Different patterns of longitudinal brain and spinal cord changes and their associations with disability progression in NMO and MS

  • Magnetic Resonance
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Abstract

Objective

To investigate the longitudinal spinal cord and brain changes in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS) and their associations with disability progression.

Patients and methods

We recruited 28 NMO, 22 MS, and 20 healthy controls (HC), who underwent both spinal cord and brain MRI at baseline. Twenty-five NMO and 20 MS completed 1-year follow-up. Baseline spinal cord and brain lesion loads, mean upper cervical cord area (MUCCA), brain, and thalamus volume and their changes during a 1-year follow-up were measured and compared between groups. All the measurements were also compared between progressive and non-progressive groups in NMO and MS.

Results

MUCCA decreased significantly during the 1-year follow-up in NMO not in MS. Percentage brain volume changes (PBVC) and thalamus volume changes in MS were significantly higher than NMO. MUCCA changes were significantly different between progressive and non-progressive groups in NMO, while baseline brain lesion volume and PBVC were associated with disability progression in MS. MUCCA changes during 1-year follow-up showed association with clinical disability in NMO.

Conclusion

Spinal cord atrophy changes were associated with disability progression in NMO, while baseline brain lesion load and whole brain atrophy changes were related to disability progression in MS.

Key Points

• Spinal cord atrophy progression was observed in NMO.

• Spinal cord atrophy changes were associated with disability progression in NMO.

• Brain lesion and atrophy were related to disability progression in MS.

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Abbreviations

HC:

Healthy control

MUCCA:

Mean upper cervical cord area

NBV:

Normalised brain volume

NMO:

Neuromyelitis optica

NTV:

Normalised thalamic volume

PBVC:

Percentage brain volume changes

PVVC:

Percentage ventricular volume change

RRMS:

Relapsing remitting MS

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China

    Yaou Liu, Yunyun Duan, Jing Huang, Zhuoqiong Ren & Kuncheng Li

  2. Beijing Key Lab of MRI and Brain Informatics, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China

    Yaou Liu & Kuncheng Li

  3. Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, 1007 MB, The Netherlands

    Yaou Liu & Frederik Barkhof

  4. Department of Neurology and Tianjin Neurological Institute, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, People’s Republic of China

    Yaou Liu & Fu-Dong Shi

  5. Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, People’s Republic of China

    Zheng Liu & Huiqing Dong

  6. Fraunhofer MEVIS, Institute for Medical Image Computing, Universitätsallee 29, Bremen, 28359, Germany

    Florian Weiler & Horst K. Hahn

  7. Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Parkville, 3010, Australia

    Helmut Butzkueven

  8. Institutes of Neurology and Healthcare Engineering, UCL, London, UK

    Frederik Barkhof

Authors
  1. Yaou Liu
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  2. Yunyun Duan
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  3. Jing Huang
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  4. Zhuoqiong Ren
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  5. Zheng Liu
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  6. Huiqing Dong
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  7. Florian Weiler
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  8. Horst K. Hahn
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  9. Fu-Dong Shi
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  10. Helmut Butzkueven
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  11. Frederik Barkhof
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  12. Kuncheng Li
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yaou Liu or Kuncheng Li.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Yaou Liu.

Conflict of interest

The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Funding

This work was supported by the ECTRIMS-MAGNMIS Fellowship from ECTRIMS (YL), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 81571631 and 81401377), the Beijing Natural Science fund (Grant No. 7162077 YL), and the Beijing Nova Program (Grant No. xx2013045, YL), and the Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Clinical Medicine Development of Special Funding Support (Grant No. ZYLX201609).

Statistics and biometry

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

Ethical approval

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study.

Methodology

• Prospective

• diagnostic or prognostic study

• performed at one institution

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Liu, Y., Duan, Y., Huang, J. et al. Different patterns of longitudinal brain and spinal cord changes and their associations with disability progression in NMO and MS. Eur Radiol 28, 96–103 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-017-4921-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-017-4921-x

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