Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, demyelinating immune‑mediated disease of the central nervous system affecting white and grey matter[1]. The most common age affected by this disease is from 20 to 40 years and the prevalence is 1.1 million people in the world [2]. Many studies hypothesized that cognitive disability is associated with the extent of white matter (WM) lesion load in MS patients but extensive gray matter (GM) loss has been widely reported in patients with MS, including cortical and deep GM. [3] In this...

We enrolled 146 recent-onset (< 6 months ) MS patients, fulfilling Mc Donald’s criteria, in a prospective study. All patients underwent 3T MRI exams; SCD was evaluated performing post-contrast axial Flair images on 3T MRI scan.

Post-contrast axial Flair images MR showed the presence of enhanced meningeal rim referable to SCD in acute phase in 32% of our population. A large percentage (78%) of thesepatients with SCD showed female gender. In 17% of our cases, SCD precedes the appearance of classic white matter plaques.

The evaluation of SCD may suggest a possible and important pathogenic role of meningeal inflammation in recent-onset MS patients. Targeting the cells and molecules mediating these inflammatory responses within the meninges may offer future promising therapies for MS.

[1] Nadine Kramann; Katharina Neid; Lena Menken; Christina Schlumbohm; Christine Stadelmann; Eberhard Fuchs; Wolfgang Brück; Christiane Wegner. Increased Meningeal T and Plasma Cell Infiltration is Associated with Early Subpial Cortical Demyelination in Common Marmosets with Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis. Brain Pathology ISSN 1015-6305. doi:10.1111/bpa.12180 [2] Ali Dehghani; Nahid Dehghan Nayeri; Abbas Ebadi. Antecedents of Coping with the Disease in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis: A Qualitative Content Analysis. IJCBNM January 2017; Vol 5, No 1. [3] Xiaofei Zhang , Fangfang Zhang , Dehui Huang , Lei Wu...