Elisabetta Pagani1, Maria Assunta Rocca1,2,
Gianna Riccitelli1, Vittorio Martinelli2, Filippo
Martinelli-Boneschi2, Andrea Falini3, Giancarlo Comi2,
Massimo Filippi1,2
1Neuroimaging Research
Unit, Institute of Experimental Neurology, Division of Neuroscience,
Scientific Institute & University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy; 2Department
of Neurology, Scientific Institute & University Hospital San Raffaele,
Milan, Italy; 3Department of Neuroradiology, Scientific Institute
& University Hospital San Raffaele, Milan, Italy
We investigated white matter (WM) integrity in a large sample of benign (B), relapsing remitting (RR), secondary progressive (SP), primary progressive (PP) multiple sclerosis (MS) patients using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). We found diffuse WM abnormalities in all patient groups, with different patterns in each phenotype. Interestingly, while the supratentorial regions showed abnormalities in all the disease phenotypes, the infratentorial regions of the brain were spared in PPMS and less damaged in BMS when compared with SPMS. This suggests that the assessment of damage in these regions might contribute to a better characterisation of MS phenotypes.
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