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Cognitive Impairment in RRMS
Associating blood flow and volume with disability
Significant reduction in cortical cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) reduction was present in cognitively impaired (CI) patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) vs similar patients with no impairment (NI) in the absence of structural differences. This according to a study of 20 CI patients, 19 NI patients, and 19 healthy controls who underwent MRI and cognitive testing. Researchers found:
- No significant differences were seen in RRMS subgroups for age, gender, disease duration, and any fractional brain or lesion volume.
- EDSS and HADS-D scores were higher in CI patients.
- Lobar cortical CBF and CBV were associated with cognitive impairment after controlling for confounders.
- Cortical CBV accounted for 7.2% of cognitive impairment, increasing to 8.7% with cortical CBF, while white matter and cortical CBF accounted for 8.2% of variance.
Citation: Seyed-Parsa H, Cantrell CG, Carroll TJ, et al. Perfusion reduction in the absence of structural differences in cognitively impaired versus unimpaired RRMS patients. [Published online ahead of print February 4, 2016]. Mult Scler. doi:10.1177/1352458516628656.