Similar Global N-Acetylaspartate in Benign & Non-Benign Multiple Sclerosis

Daniel J. Rigotti¹, Lutz Achtnichts², Oded Gonen¹, James S. Babb¹, Yvonne Naegelin², Kerstin Bendtfield², Jochen Hirsch², Michael Amann², Robert I. Grossman¹, Ludwig Kapposs², Achim Gass²

The need for reliable criteria to identify multiple sclerosis patients who will remain clinically benign over the long term and the link between neural damage and disability prompted us to test whether benign patients suffer less global neuronal injury than their more disabled contemporaries. We analyzed the global concentration of N-acetylaspartate (WBNAA), a marker for diffuse neurodegeneration, in clinically benign and non-benign patients and show that there is indeed no difference in neural sparing. The clinical disparity of the two groups, therefore, can be explained by insufficient clinical descriptors of phenotype as well as different brain plasticity and lesion evolution.