Annals of Neurology: Spinal cord atrophy predicts progression in relapsing multiple sclerosis

Since multiple sclerosis was first described more than 150 years ago, neurologists have struggled to predict the onset of progressive disease, a key milestone in determining clinical outcomes in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS)

To achieve this, they analyzed a subset of 54 patients (RR→SP) who converted to secondary progressive MS (SPMS) at 12 years of follow-up and compared them with similar baseline characteristics during this period But still RRMS (RR→RR) 54 matched individuals were compared

To do this, they used data from the entire study cohort and stratified all patients who maintained RRMS according to whether they remained stable or silently progressed over a 12-year observation period

They assessed all RRMS (n = 360) and SPMS (n = 47) patients and 80 matched controls

They found that compared with RRMS patients (-0.

Each 1% increase in the rate of spinal cord atrophy was associated with a 69% (p < 0.

Asymptomatic progression and conversion to secondary progressive disease are primarily associated with cervical cord atrophy