Scans carried out when someone is first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis can predict their long-term prognosis, research has shown.Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans are already a key part of the diagnosis and management of MS. But a 15-year study of people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), who can go on to develop MS, suggests they can also predict future disability.
The MS Society said more information would help patients' treatment choices. The organisation, which funded the study in the journal Brain, added that knowing more about their condition would also reduce uncertainty for patients.
More than 100,000 people in the UK live with MS. The condition affects everyday activities like walking, talking and eating, though everyone's condition develops differently and to differing degrees. MRIs are already used to show if there is damage to the myelin sheath, the layer surrounding nerves in the brain and spinal cord.
In this study, specialists followed 164 people diagnosed with CIS - neurological symptoms which can, but do not always, develop into MS - for an average of 15 years. Scans were also carried out one and three years after the CIS episode. Prognosis was worst for those who had both inflammation in the brain and spinal cord damage. And early spinal cord damage was also an indication that a patient would go on to develop the secondary progressive form of MS, which currently has no treatment and is where disability gets steadily worse. However, early treatment can reduce the risk of developing secondary progressive MS.
