The Role of Deep Gray Matter Volume Lesions in MS

The clinical–radiologic paradox of MS is that T2-weighted white-matter lesions (WMLs) correlate only weakly with clinical outcomes. Proposed explanations have involved structures outside the white matter, such as deep gray matter (DGM), cortex, meningeal follicles, and spinal cord. In this study, investigators sought to answer whether DGM lesions are independent or dependent on these WMLs in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Participants included 249 patients with relapsing–remitting MS and at least two clinically silent cerebral WMLs, and 49 healthy controls (HCs). MS patients were relatively young (mean age, 36.8 years), early in disease (81 had clinically isolated syndromes), mildly affected (mean Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score, 1.4…