Correlation between brain volume loss and clinical and MRI outcomes in multiple sclerosis (original) (raw)

Inclusion of brain volume loss in a revised measure of 'no evidence of disease activity' (NEDA-4) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England), 2015

Background: 'No evidence of disease activity' (NEDA), defined as absence of magnetic resonance imaging activity (T2 and/or gadolinium-enhanced T1 lesions), relapses and disability progression ('NEDA-3'), is used as a comprehensive measure of treatment response in relapsing multiple sclerosis (RMS), but is weighted towards inflammatory activity. Accelerated brain volume loss (BVL) occurs in RMS and is an objective measure of disease worsening and progression. Objective: To assess the contribution of individual components of NEDA-3 and the impact of adding BVL to NEDA-3 ('NEDA-4') Methods: We analysed data pooled from two placebo-controlled phase 3 fingolimod trials in RMS and assessed NEDA-4 using different annual BVL mean rate thresholds (0.2%-1.2%). Results: At 2 years, 31.0% (217/700) of patients receiving fingolimod 0.5 mg achieved NEDA-3 versus 9.9% (71/715) on placebo (odds ratio (OR) 4.07; p < 0.0001). Adding BVL (threshold of 0.4%), the respective proportions of patients achieving NEDA-4 were 19.7% (139/706) and 5.3% (38/721; OR 4.41; p < 0.0001). NEDA-4 status favoured fingolimod across all BVL thresholds tested (OR 4.01-4.41; p < 0.0001). Conclusion: NEDA-4 has the potential to capture the impact of therapies on both inflammation and neurodegeneration, and deserves further evaluation across different compounds and in long-term studies.

Fingolimod's Impact on MRI Brain Volume Measures in Multiple Sclerosis: Results from MS-MRIUS

Journal of Neuroimaging, 2018

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Evidence is needed to understand the effect of fingolimod on slowing down brain atrophy progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in clinical practice. We investigated the effect of fingolimod on brain atrophy in MS patients with active disease (clinically and/or magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) versus no evidence of active disease (NEAD). METHODS: MS and clinical outcome and MRI in the United States (MS-MRIUS) is a multicenter, retrospective study that included 590 relapsing-remitting MS patients, who initiated fingolimod, and were followed for a median of 16 months. Patients with active disease at baseline (245, 41.5%) were defined as those who had one or more relapses in the year previous starting fingolimod, and/or displayed gadolinium enhancing lesions(s) at baseline MRI scan, whereas patients with NEAD at baseline (345, 58.5%) did not fulfill these criteria. Annualized percentage brain volume change (PBVC) and percentage lateral ventricle volume change (PLVVC) over the follow-up were analyzed in both groups. RESULTS: Over the follow-up, the rate of PBVC was −.38% in active disease and −.25% in NEAD patients (P = .076), whereas PLLVC was 1.76% in active disease and .28% in NEAD patients (P = .046). No changes in timed 25-foot walk (P = .619) and Expanded Disability Status Scale (P = .275) scores or MRI lesion accumulation (P > 0.08) were detected, although the active disease group had a higher proportion of relapses during the follow-up period (P = .02).

Assessing Biological and Methodological Aspects of Brain Volume Loss in Multiple Sclerosis

JAMA neurology, 2018

Before using brain volume loss (BVL) as a marker of therapeutic response in multiple sclerosis (MS), certain biological and methodological issues must be clarified. To assess the dynamics of BVL as MS progresses and to evaluate the repeatability and exchangeability of BVL estimates with Jacobian Integration (JI) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain (FMRIB) Software Library (FSL) (specifically, the Structural Image Evaluation, Using Normalisation, of Atrophy-Cross-Sectional [SIENA-X] tool or FMRIB's Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool [FIRST]). A cohort of patients who had either clinically isolated syndrome or MS was enrolled from February 2011 through October 2015. All underwent a series of annual magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Images from 2 cohorts of healthy volunteers were used to evaluate short-term repeatability of the MRI measurements (n = 34) and annual BVL (n = 20). Data analysis occurred from January to May 2017. The goodness of fit...

Brain Volume Loss Can Occur at the Rate of Normal Aging in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Who Are Free from Disease Activity

Journal of Clinical Medicine

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating and degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. Accelerated brain volume loss (BVL) has emerged as a promising magnetic resonance imaging marker (MRI) of neurodegeneration, correlating with present and future clinical disability. We have systematically selected MS patients fulfilling ‘no evidence of disease activity-3′ (NEDA-3) criteria under high-efficacy disease-modifying treatment (DMT) from the database of two Belgian MS centers. BVL between both MRI scans demarcating the NEDA-3 period was assessed and compared with a group of prospectively recruited healthy volunteers who were matched for age and gender. Annualized whole brain volume percentage change was similar between 29 MS patients achieving NEDA-3 and 24 healthy controls (−0.25 ± 0.49 versus −0.24 ± 0.20, p = 0.9992; median follow-up 21 versus 33 months; respectively). In contrast, we found a mean BVL increase of 72%, as compared with the former, in a...

Correlation of clinical findings and brain volume data in multiple sclerosis

, on behalf of theBrazilian Brain Volume Studies (B-BRAVOS) group a b s t r a c t Brain volume measurements are becoming an important tool for assessing success in controlling multiple sclerosis (MS) activity. MSmetrix (icometrix) is an easy-to-use platform, specific for MS magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. It provides data on total brain volume, grey matter volume and lesion load volume. The objective of the present study was to assess whether disability and the number of relapses during the previous year correlated with brain volume measurements from MSmetrix. Data on 185 icometrix reports from patients with MS were used to evaluate the potential correlation between brain volume measurements and clinical parameters. There was a significant correlation between higher disability and decreased brain volume (total and grey matter). Increased lesion load in the brain and higher number of relapses in the previous year were also independently correlated with decreased brain tissue volume and with increased disability. This is the first study with real-world data to show that icometrix is a relevant tool for the study of brain volume loss in MS.

Effect of disease-modifying therapies on brain volume in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis: Results of a five-year brain MRI study

Journal of the Neurological Sciences, 2012

To compare the long-term effect of disease-modifying therapies (DMT) on brain volume loss in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients. Methods: We conducted a study to examine the effect of daily glatiramer acetate (GA), weekly low dose interferon beta (LD-IFNB), and high-dose high-frequency interferon beta disease (HD-IFNB) on brain volume loss over 5 years in RRMS patients. All patients were previously treatment naïve, had disease duration ≤ 5 years at the time of initiating DMT, and subsequently received the same DMT for 5 years continuously. The percentage change in brain volume (PCBV) was measured using fully automated software. MRI analysis was performed blinded to treatment allocation. Results: The adjusted PCBV from baseline to year 5 was − 2.27% in GA, − 2.62% in LD-IFNB, and − 3.21% in the HD-IFNB groups (− 2.27 vs − 2.62, p = 0.0036; − 2.27 vs − 3.21, p b 0.0001; − 2.62 vs − 3.21, p b 0.0001). These data remained unchanged from year 1 to year 5, after adjusting for pseudoatrophy in the first year. A group of RRMS patients that remained untreated for a period ranging from 8 to 24 months, served as controls. All treatment groups were significantly better than the rate of projected brain volume loss in the untreated group over 5 years (p b 0.0001). Conclusions: Global brain volume loss is a dynamic process even in relatively early RRMS patients that occurs despite intervention with therapy. However, all DMT significantly reduced the loss of brain volume compared to no treatment. The GA-treated group experienced the least reduction in brain volume over 5 years, compared to the LD-IFNB and HD-IFNB treated groups. These differences could be partly related to the immunologic consequences of GA therapy in RRMS.

Functional Disability and Brain MRI Volumetry Results among Multiple Sclerosis Patients during 5-Year Follow-Up

Medicina

Background and Objectives: We aimed to determine the link between brain volumetry results and functional disability calculated using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in relation to the provided treatment (disease-modifying therapies (DMTs)) during a 5-year follow-up period. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed enrolling 66 consecutive patients with a confirmed diagnosis of MS, predominantly females (62% (n = 41)). Relapsing–remitting (RR) MS was noted in 92% (n = 61) of patients, with the rest being patients with secondary progressive (SP) MS. The mean age was 43.3 years (SD 8.3 years). All patients were evaluated clinically using the EDSS and “FreeSurfer© 7.2.0” radiologically during a 5-year follow-up. Results: A significant increase in patient functional disability was noted, calculated using the EDSS during a 5-year follow-up. The baseline EDSS ranged between 1 and 6 with a median of 1.5 (IQR 1.5–2.0)...

Pathological cut-offs of global and regional brain volume loss in multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England), 2017

Volumetric MRI surrogate markers of disease progression are lacking. To establish cut-off values of brain volume loss able to discriminate between healthy controls and MS patients. In total, 386 patients after first demyelinating event suggestive of MS (CIS), 964 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients, 63 secondary-progressive MS (SPMS) patients and 58 healthy controls were included in this longitudinal study. A total of 11,438 MRI scans performed on the same MRI scanner with the same protocol were analysed. Annualised percentage changes of whole brain, grey matter, thalamus and corpus callosum volumes were estimated. We investigated cut-offs able to discriminate between healthy controls and MS patients. At a predefined specificity of 90%, the annualised percentage change cut-off of corpus callosum volume (-0.57%) was able to distinguish between healthy controls and patients with the highest sensitivity (51% in CIS, 48% in RRMS and 42% in SPMS patients). Lower sensitivities (22%-49%...

Association between brain volume and disability over time in multiple sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis Journal - Experimental, Translational and Clinical

Background Most previous multiple sclerosis (MS) brain atrophy studies using MS impact scale 29 (MSIS-29) or symbol digit modalities test (SDMT) have been cross-sectional with limited sets of clinical outcomes. Objectives To investigate which brain and lesion volume metrics show the strongest long-term associations with the expanded disability status scale (EDSS), SDMT, and MSIS-29, and whether MRI-clinical associations vary with age. Methods We acquired MRI and clinical data from a real-world Swedish MS cohort. FreeSurfer and SPM Lesion Segmentation Tool were used to obtain brain parenchymal, cortical and subcortical grey matter, thalamic and white matter fractions as well as T1- and T2-lesion volumes. Mixed-effects and rolling regression models were used in the statistical analyses. Results We included 989 persons with MS followed for a median of 9.3 (EDSS), 10.1 (SDMT), and 9.3 (MSIS-29) years, respectively. In a cross-sectional analysis, the strength of the associations of the M...