Transversal and Longitudinal Voxelwise Whole Brain Evaluation in the Earliest Stages of Multiple Sclerosis

Eytan Raz¹, Mara Cercignani², Emilia Sbardella¹, Porzia Totaro¹, Carlo Pozzilli¹, Marco Bozzali², Patrizia Pantano¹

In patients with multiple sclerosis, the relationship between white matter and gray matter damage evolution is not fully understood; we aimed at longitudinally (one-year interval) evaluating the white matter and gray matter damage in the same coohort of clinically isolated syndrome patients recruited at onset. While white matter damage is detectable early and widely involves most tracts, no white matter changes over one year follow-up period are noted; conversely, a significant decrease in cortical and deep gray matter volume is observed at 1 year follow-up evaluation.