Lutz Theodor, Bellenberg Barbara, Schneider Ruth, Weiler Florian, Köster Odo, Lukas Carsten
Institute for Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Department of Neurology, St. Josef-Hospital, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
J Neuroimaging. 2017 May;27(3):348-354. doi: 10.1111/jon.12410. Epub 2016 Nov 28.
Cerebral atrophy has been suggested to be a reliable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) predictor of subsequent disability in all stages of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, no accepted methodology for routine clinical use exists to date. We sought an easy to apply and fast technique to evaluate cerebral ventricular volume in patients with MS with similar accuracy as a semiautomatic volumetric method.
The study included 104 patients, 61 diagnosed with MS and 43 with clinically isolated syndrome. In addition, 30 healthy controls were enrolled. Physical disability was assessed with the expanded disability status scale and cognitive disability with the Multiple Sclerosis Inventory Cognition (MUSIC) test. All subjects received standardized 3-dimensional (3D) MR-imaging on a 3 T scanner. Third ventricle volume (3VV) was obtained from 3D T1-weighted images using a semiautomated technique, and compared against planimetric assessment of the width of the third ventricle aligned (a3VW) and unaligned (u3VW) to anatomical landmarks.
a3VW was obtained within seconds with excellent intra- and interrater agreement, and outperformed volumetric measurements regarding the differentiation of MS patients from healthy controls. a3VW had the strongest correlations with 3VV (r = .78, P < .001) and showed moderate inverse correlation with MUSIC cognition score (r = -.310, P < .005).
a3VW is a time-effective and robust biomarker that has strong correlations with volumetric measurements and can be established as standard in the MRI quantification of central brain atrophy in patients with early MS.
脑萎缩被认为是多发性硬化症（MS）各阶段后续残疾的可靠磁共振成像（MRI）预测指标。然而，迄今为止尚无被广泛接受的用于常规临床的方法。我们寻求一种易于应用且快速的技术，以与半自动容积法相似的准确性评估MS患者的脑室容积。
该研究纳入了104例患者，其中61例被诊断为MS，43例患有临床孤立综合征。此外，还纳入了30名健康对照者。使用扩展残疾状态量表评估身体残疾情况，使用多发性硬化症认知量表（MUSIC）测试评估认知残疾情况。所有受试者均在3T扫描仪上接受标准化的三维（3D）磁共振成像检查。使用半自动技术从3D T1加权图像中获取第三脑室容积（3VV），并将其与根据解剖标志对齐（a3VW）和未对齐（u3VW）的第三脑室宽度的平面测量结果进行比较。
a3VW在数秒内即可获得，观察者间和观察者内一致性极佳，在区分MS患者与健康对照者方面优于容积测量。a3VW与3VV的相关性最强（r = 0.78，P < 0.001），与MUSIC认知评分呈中度负相关（r = -0.310，P < 0.005）。
a3VW是一种省时且可靠的生物标志物，与容积测量有很强的相关性，可作为早期MS患者脑中央萎缩MRI量化的标准。
