Regional brain shrinkage in MS predicts disability

A UCL-led research team has identified the pattern of brain tissue loss in multiple sclerosis, enabling improved prediction of disability progression. The study, published in Annals of Neurology , was one of the largest brain imaging studies ever conducted investigating multiple sclerosis (MS). "It's well known that brain atrophy occurs in people with MS and varies by region, but we typically only measure the shrinkage of the whole brain. By looking at brain tissue loss in a more detailed fashion in different MS subtypes, we found it's possible to predict disability progression in advance. This has many implications in clinical trials that use brain atrophy to investigate the effect of neuroprotective drugs," said the study's lead author, Dr Arman Eshaghi (UCL Institute of Neurology). The researchers collected data retrospectively from seven research centres in the UK, Italy, Spain, Austria and the Netherlands involved in the MAGNIMS consortium, pulling together MRI scans and disability measures from 1,417 study participants (1,214 with MS), with an average follow-up of 2.41 years. The research team found that loss of volume of the deep grey matter (which is deep in the brain, or the subcortex) was faster than loss of other brain regions.