MR Imaging Quantitation of Gray Matter Involvement in Multiple Sclerosis and Its Correlation with Disability Measures and Neurocognitive Testing

disease of the central nervous system and manifests both physical and neurocognitive disabil-ities. Although predominantly a disease of the white matter, MS is also characterized by lesions in the gray matter. Previous pathologic studies have found that cortical and deep gray matter lesions comprised 5 % and 4%, respectively, of total lesions. Using software for lesion detection and quantitation, our study was designed to determine MS involvement in the cortical and deep gray matter and to correlate gray matter lesion load with neurocognitive function and the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale. METHODS: Using a semiautomated segmentation algorithm that detected and delineated all possible brain MS lesions on MR images, we investigated gray matter lesion volume in 18 patients with untreated relapsing-remitting MS. Cortical and deep gray matter lesions then were correlated with the neurocognitive and physical disability measurements. RESULTS: We found that cortical gray matter lesions comprised approximately 5.7 % of the total lesion volume, whereas deep gray matter lesions comprised another 4.6 % in this patient cohort. No strong correlations were found between gray matter lesions and disability status or neurocognitive function