Multiple Sclerosis in Malaysia: Demographics, Clinical Features, and Neuroimaging Characteristics

Table 3

Neuroimaging of the spine in patients with multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica and its spectrum disorders in Malaysia.

Spinal cord findings	MS (𝑛=104)/%	NMO/NMOSD (𝑛=77)/%
Mean cord lesion length at onset for all clinical types/VS	2.06±1.92	6.25±5.18
Mean cord lesion length in RRMS patients	1.86±1.65	—
Commonest site for cord involvement
Cervical	42/104 (40.4)	28/77 (36.4)
Cervicothoracic	24/104 (23.1)	33/77 (42.9)
Thoracic	6/104 (5.8)	8/77 (10.4)
Thoracic and lumbar cord	1/104 (1.0)	1/77 (1.3)
Cervical/thoracic/lumbar cord (interrupted segments)	4/104 (3.8)	—
Whole spine		3/77 (3.9)
Location of the lesion
Periphery of cord (lateral/posterolateral)	68/104 (65.4)	3/77 (3.9)
Central gray matter	9/104 (8.6)	36/77 (46.8)
Holocord	—	34/77 (44.2)
Length of cord lesions (vertebral segments-VS)
1 VS or less	13/104 (12.5)	1/77 (1.3)
>1 VS to ≤3 VS (Single patchy/well defined lesion)	40/104 (38.5)	9/77 (11.7)
>3 VS (multiple ill-defined patchy short segments between 1 to 3 VS)	22/104 (21.2); (multiple ill-defined patchy short segments between 1 and 3 VS coalescing together)	63/77 (81.8); (longitudinally extensive or linear lesions with or without patchy interrupted segments)
Multiple well-defined short segments, <3 VS	2/104 (1.9)	0/77 (0)
No lesion	20/104 (19.2)	4/77 (5.2)
No scan done	7/104 (6.7)	—
Cord atrophy
Yes	3/104/(2.8); (all with disease >10 years ± progressive phase)	26/77 (33.8)
No	74/104/(71.2)	47/77 (61.0)
T1 hypointensity
Yes	2/104 (1.9)	17/77 (22.0)
No	75/104 (74.0)	56/77 (72.7)
Cord edema
Yes	0/104 (0)	24/77 (31.2)
No	77/104 (74.0)	49/77 (63.6)

MS: multiple sclerosis; VS: vertebral-segments; RRMS: relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; NMO: neuromyelitis optica; NMOSD: neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.