A central vein sign in the magnetic resonance diagnosing of multiple sclerosis

Background. Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune demyelinating disease, which is characterized by the inevitable disability of patients in the long term, which determines the relevance of this problem. Currently, active improvements are being made in the methods of diagnosing multiple sclerosis, which include the use of the central vein sign in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a neuroimaging biomarker of MS with high sensitivity and specificity.

Aim of study. Determination of the possibility of assessing the central vein sign (CVS) according to MRI data as a potential diagnostic biomarker of MS.

Object and methods. An open single-center prospective study of brain MR data was conducted in 55 patients with a verified diagnosis of MS (EDSS 1.0-6.5) aged 19 to 72 years. MR-images were obtained on a tomograph with a magnetic field induction force of 3.0 T. Patients underwent MRI of the brain according to the standard protocol: T2-VI, FLAIR, T1-VI (before and after administration of contrast agent), SWI. A comprehensive statistical analysis and evaluation of the obtained MRI data was performed using the Statistica 12 program.

Result. During the evaluation of MR-tomograms, all patients with a verified diagnosis in the foci of MS were found to have CVS. In 14.5 % of patients, CVS was detected in 10-30 % of foci, in 61.8 % of patients in 30-60 %, in 23.6 % of patients, from 60 to 95 % was detected. Accordingly, 52.7 % of patients overcame the threshold value of 45 % required for the differential diagnosis of MS from other conditions.

Conclusion. The use of CVS in MRI helps to solve the problem of differential diagnosis of MS from other demyelinating diseases when using its threshold criterion – the percentage of foci containing central veins.

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