Relevance of Magnet Resonance Tomography in the Diagnosis and Assessment of Course of Disease in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) with a substantial destructive axonal component that is responsible for the permanent disability accumulating during the course of the disease. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the most important method in the diagnosis of MS. The high sensitivity of the MRI permits to detect focal and diffuse inflammatory disease involvement in vivo. In clinical routine the detection and quantification of focal pathology contributes substantially to an early diagnosis of MS. The detection of a substantial lesion load at the beginning of the disease increases the probability of an early conversion to clinically definite MS and the risk of accumulating disability in the first years of the disease. In 2001 this diagnostic and prognostic gain of information at an early stage of the disease resulted in a conceptual shift regarding diagnostic criteria. This concept comprises clinical and MRI criteria. The current 2010 revised criteria follow the concept of substituting a clinical relapse by subclinical MRI activity and allow the diagnosis of MS from one single MRI after the first relapse. This diagnostic approach using MRI allows an early treatment within an appropriate window of treatment opportunity.