[Characteristic features of radiological findings in multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are the two main autoimmune and inflammatory diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a currently-established tool in the diagnosis of these two diseases. More recently, the utility of both conventional MRI and advanced MR techniques including structural, metabolic and functional MRI have provided new surrogate markers of clinical activity and prognosis. This review focuses on the current knowledge of the details of radiological examination in two distinct diseases, MS and NMO, and clarifies that each has unique characteristic features of radiological and pathological modalities in the CNS. However, advanced MR techniques still need to be fully evaluated and validated by pathological studies.