Comparison of Thalamus and Basal Ganglia Signs Between Multiple Sclerosis and Primary Angiitis of the Central Nervous System: An Exploratory Study

Ying Chen; Rui Li; Aimin Wu; Wei Qiu; Xueqiang Hu; Zhaoqi Hu; Qian Yang; Zhiming Zhou

doi:10.3389/fneur.2021.513253

Comparison of Thalamus and Basal Ganglia Signs Between Multiple Sclerosis and Primary Angiitis of the Central Nervous System: An Exploratory Study

Front Neurol. 2021 Jul 29:12:513253. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2021.513253. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Ying Chen¹, Rui Li², Aimin Wu², Wei Qiu², Xueqiang Hu², Zhaoqi Hu³, Qian Yang¹, Zhiming Zhou¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Yijishan Hospital, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China.
² Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of Orthopaedics, Wuhu Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Wuhu, China.

Abstract

Based on the symptoms, especially those affecting small vessels, it is difficult to distinguish multiple sclerosis (MS) from primary angiitis of the central nervous system (PACNS). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) helps understand the characteristics of deep gray matter lesions (DGML) in MS and PACNS. We aimed to compare the MRI characteristics of thalamus and basal ganglia lesions between relapsing-remitting MS and PACNS. In our study, 49 relapsing-remitting MS patients and 16 PACNS with MRI-confirmed thalamus or basal ganglia lesions were enrolled. Among the DGMLs in basal ganglia, putamen had significantly higher (P = 0.037) involvement in PACNS than in MS. More importantly, larger lesion sizes in thalamus helps to distinguish PACNS (12.4 ± 4.3 mm) from MS (7.9 ± 3.7 mm) (P = 0.006). But using lesions in basal ganglia, researchers were unable to differentiate the two disorders. Presently, our study shows that MRI performances of deep gray matter differ between MS and PACNS.

Keywords: MRI; basal ganglia; comparison; multiple sclerosis; primary angiitis of the central nervous system.