Table 1 –

Comparison of clinical and MRI characteristics in RRMS and SPMS patients with longstanding disease; results are shown as number/total (%) or median (range).

	RRMS (n=18)	SPMS (n=14)	P
Demographics
Female gender	15/18 (83%)	12/14 (86%)	1.0
Caucasian	18/18 (100%)	15/15 (100%)	1.0
Clinical
Age at MS onset	25 (12–43)	23 (14–51)	0.83
Age at last follow-up	60 (46–76)	65 (54–84)	0.13
Total number of relapses	4 (1–10)	3 (1–15)	0.69
Total number of myelitis relapses	2 (0–9)	2 (0–10)	0.59
DMT ever	10/18 (56%)	6/14 (43%)	0.72
Highly effective DMT	2/18 (11%)	1/14 (7%)	1.0
EDSS last follow-up	2 (1–4)	6 (4–8)	<0.001
Follow-up duration, years	34 (27–53)	39 (29–47)	0.22
Brain MRI
Brain lesions (>15 lesions)	10/18 (56%)	10/14 (71%)	0.47
Infratentorial lesion number	1 (0–12)	2.5 (1–13)	0.02
Onset to last brain MRI, years	32 (26–50)	37 (29–44)	0.34
Spinal cord MRI
Spinal cord lesion number	4 (1–7)	7.5 (3–12)	0.002
Cervical spinal cord	2.5 (0–6)	4 (2–8)	0.02
Thoracic spinal cord	1 (0–4)	4 (0–6)	0.01
Frequency of any CST lesion (≥1)	17/18 (94%)	14/14 (100%)	1.0
Cervical spinal cord	14/18 (78%)	13/14 (93%)	0.35
Thoracic spinal cord	6/12 (50%)	7/10 (70%)	0.41
Frequency of “potential critical lesions” (≥1)	8/18 (44%)	14/14 (100%)	0.001
Cervical spinal cord	5/18 (28%)	12/14 (86%)	0.002
Thoracic spinal cord	3/12 (25%)	3/10 (30%)	1.0
Lesion cross-sectional area, mm2	15 (8–18.1)	13.1 (4.2–23.4)	0.9
Lesion sagittal length, mm2	10.9 (7–22.3)	13.5 (7.4–22.1)	0.45
C3 cross-sectional area, mm2	74.2 (59.5–99.2)	71.2 (49.4–91.8)	0.3
C7 cross-sectional area, mm2	62.7 (51–82.5)	60.3 (41.3–79.5)	0.47
Onset to last cervical MRI, years	31 (21–49)	36 (27–44)	0.30
Onset to last thoracic MRI, years	30 (24–40)	38 (20–44)	0.06

Abbreviations: CST = corticospinal tracts; DMT = disease-modifying treatment; EDSS = expanded disability status scale score; RRMS = relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis; SPMS = secondary progressive multiple sclerosis*