Patterns of cortical grey matter thickness reduction in multiple sclerosis

To examine the patterns of cortical gray matter thickness in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.

Seventy-four MS patients-clinically isolated syndrome (4%), relapsing-remitting MS (79%), and progressive MS (17%)-and 21 healthy controls (HCs) underwent 1.5 Tesla T1-weighted 3D MRI examinations to measure brain cortical thickness in a total of 68 regions of interest. Using hierarchical cluster analysis with multivariate cortical thickness data, cortical thickness reduction patterns were cross-sectionally investigated in MS patients.

The MS patients were grouped into three major clusters (Clusters 1, 2, and 3). Most of the regional cortical thickness values were equivalent between the HCs and Cluster 1, but decreased in the order of Clusters 2 and 3. Only the thicknesses of the temporal lobe cortices (the bilateral superior and left middle temporal cortex, as well as the left fusiform cortex) were significantly different among Clusters 1, 2, and 3. In contrast, temporal pole thickness reduction was evident exclusively in Cluster 3, which was also characterized by increased lesion loads in the temporal pole and the adjacent juxtacortical white matter, dilatation of the inferior horn of the lateral ventricle, severe whole-brain volume reduction, and longer disease duration. Although cortical atrophy was significantly more common in the progressive phase, approximately half of the MS patients with the severe cortical atrophy pattern had relapsing-remitting disease.

Cortical thickness reduction patterns in MS are mostly characterized by the degree of temporal lobe cortical atrophy, which may start in the relapsing-remitting phase. Among the temporal lobe cortices, the neurodegenerative change may accelerate in the temporal pole in the progressive phase.