Widespread cortical thinning characterizes patients with MS with mild cognitive impairment

Abstract

A widespread pattern of cortical thinning characterizes patients with cognitive dysfunction, suggesting such dysfunction as expression of a more aggressive and widespread cortical pathology.

Impact of Gray Matter Pathology on Cognitive Function in Multiple Sclerosis

“…Neocortical volume has been found to be significantly reduced in cognitively impaired compared to cognitively preserved patients (Amato et al, 2004). Similar findings have been reported with cortical thickness analyses of the global brain and parcellated brain areas (Calabrese et al, 2010). Compared to healthy controls, a VBM study found significant decrease in GM volume only in MS patients with cognitive impairment in contrast to patients with normal neuropsychological performance (Morgen et al, 2006).…”

“…Compared to healthy controls, a VBM study found significant decrease in GM volume only in MS patients with cognitive impairment in contrast to patients with normal neuropsychological performance (Morgen et al, 2006). Neuropsychological performance of patients with cognitive decline has been documented to correlate with cortical brain volume (Amato et al, 2004;Benedict et al, 2006a;Morgen et al, 2006), as well as cortical thickness (Calabrese et al, 2010). GM volume assessed longitudinally decreased more progressively in MS patients with deteriorating cognitive performance compared to patients with stable or improving cognitive state .…”

“…GM volume assessed longitudinally decreased more progressively in MS patients with deteriorating cognitive performance compared to patients with stable or improving cognitive state . The relevance of cortical damage in cognitive dysfunction of MS patients has been highlighted by studies of regional cortical atrophy (Calabrese et al, 2010;Morgen et al, 2006;Tekok-Kilic et al, 2007). In a group of cognitively impaired MS patients, GM volume of fronto-temporal brain areas presumed to be involved in neural processing of working memory, information processing, and divided attention correlated with performance on the paced auditory serial addition task (PASAT) test performance (Morgen et al, 2006).…”

Changes in Fatigue and Cognition in Patients with Relapsing Forms of Multiple Sclerosis Treated with Natalizumab

“…Fatigue in MS may be related to impaired interactions among functionally related cortical and subcortical areas, it could be a side effect of depression, or both. 15,31,32 MS-related cognitive dysfunction could be a function of fatigue, central inflammation, neurodegeneration, neuroendocrine dysregulation, and/or depression. 33 This study is the first to document moderate correlations between measurements of fatigue and cognitive function at baseline and during natalizumab treatment.…”

Structural Plasticity of Remote Cortical Brain Regions is Determined by Connectivity to the Primary Lesion in Subcortical Stroke

“…Normal age-dependent cortical thinning is highly variable over the cortical surface, 1,2 while characteristic patterns of cortical thinning are of diagnostic and prognostic values in diseases such as Alzheimer's or the frontotemporal dementias, 3 or multiple sclerosis. 4 Ischemic stroke induces disruptive changes and dynamic adaptations in the structural and functional brain architecture supposed to be linked to clinical impairment and rehabilitation. In the neuroimaging literature, reorganization within wide-spread functional brain networks have been described.…”