Table 4. Typical features of lesions in MS and NMOSD.

Lesion features		MS	NMOSD
Brain
	Shape	Ovoid (Dawson’s fingers)	Variable
	Location	Periventricular	Periependymal
		Juxtacortical/Cortical	Diencephalic
			Corticospinal tract
		Brainstem	Dorsal brainstem
	Central vein sign	> 50% of lesions	Rare
	Iron rim	Present	Absent
Optic nerve
	Site	Unilateral	Bilateral
	Length	Short	Long‡
Cord
	Length	Short	Long§
	Location	Peripheral	Central
MRI algorithms		1 of 3 criteria*	2 of 5 criteria†

^*At least one of the following: (1) lesion adjacent to the body of the lateral ventricle and in the inferior temporal lobe, (2) a subcortical U-fiber lesion, and (3) a Dawson’s finger-type lesion [34], ^†At least one of the following: (1) longitudinally extensive lesion in the spinal cord, (2) periependymal lesion of the lateral ventricles; absence of (3) juxtacortical/cortical U-fiber lesions, (4) Dawson’s finger-type lesions, and (5) ovoid periventricular lesions [28], ^‡At least 50% of the optic nerve length, ^§At least three consecutive vertebral segments.

MS = multiple sclerosis, NMOSD = neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders, MRI = magnetic resonance imaging