Researchers at the State University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center recently reported on the association between regional measures of cortical atrophy and neuropsychological (NP) dysfunction found in a study of 35 patients with MS.

Patients underwent neurological examination, MRI, and NP testing. Blind quantitative MRI analysis yielded total T (2) lesion area (TLA) and third ventricle width (3VW). Cortical atrophy, rated by blind visual inspection, was more extensive in superior frontal and parietal cortices than in other regions. No MRI measures were correlated with depression scores. TLA and 3VW were significantly correlated with each NP test. Cortical atrophy measures for bilateral superior frontal cortex were used to predict impairments in verbal learning, spatial learning, attention, and conceptual reasoning.

The researchers concluded that cerebral atrophy predicts NP impairment while accounting for the influence of TLA or 3VW. Regions of cortex most susceptible to atrophic and cognitive changes in MS are the right and left superior frontal lobes. (Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, Winter 2002, 14(1): 44-51)

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