Table 2.
Patient characteristics (exclusion of patients with symptomatic SC lesions).
| Total | Asymptomatic SC lesions | No SC lesions | Significance p < 0.05 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total no. | 94 | 42 | 52 | |
| No lesions, but SC symptoms | 20 | |||
| No lesions, nor symptoms | 32 | |||
| CIS/RRMS (CIS, %) | 49 (52.1) | 15 (35.7) | 34 (65.4) | 0.004c |
| Onset symptoms | ||||
| Optic nerve (%) | 22 (23.4) | 12 (28.6) | 10 (19.2) | |
| Brainstem/posterior fossa (%) | 38 (40.4) | 19 (45.2) | 19 (36.5) | |
| Spinal cord (%) | 11 (11.7) | 0 (0) | 11 (21.2) | |
| Hemispherical (%) | 6 (6.4) | 3 (7.1) | 3 (5.8) | |
| Other (%) | 1 (1.1) | 1 (2.4) | 0 (0) | |
| Multifocal (%)1 | 16 (17.0) | 7 (16.7) | 9 (17.3) | |
| Relapse symptoms, if before BL2 | 27 | 15 | 12 | |
| No. of patients with a second relapse before BL | 19 | 9 | 10 | |
| No. of patients with a third relapse before BL | 8 | 6 | 2 | |
| Optic nerve (%) | 8 (29.6) | 4 (26.7) | 4 (33.3) | |
| Brainstem/posterior fossa (%) | 8 (37.0) | 7 (46.7) | 3 (25.0) | |
| Spinal cord (%) | 2 (7.4) | 0 (0) | 2 (16.7) | |
| Hemispherical (%) | 4 (14.8) | 2 (13.5) | 2 (16.7) | |
| Other/unknown | 2 (7.4) | 2 (13.5) | 0 (0) | |
| Multifocal (%)3 | 1 (3.7) | 0 (0) | 1 (8.3) | |
| Gender (female, %) | 61 (64.9) | 30 (71.4) | 31 (59.6) | 0.23c |
| Age at onset (years, mean, SD) | 35.0 (8.4) | 34.8 (9.1) | 35.1 (8.0) | 0.34a |
| Disease duration at BL (months, median, IQR) | 5 (3–7) | 5 (3–6) | 5 (3–7) | 0.72b |
| EDSS at BL (median, IQR) | 2.0 (1.5–3.0) | 2.0 (1.4–2.6) | 2.3 (1.5–3.8) | 0.35b |
| 9-HPT (seconds, mean, ±SD) | 18.2 (3.6) | 18.8 (4.7) | 17.7 (2.5) | 0.15a |
| 25-FWT BL (seconds, mean, ±SD) | 4.0 (1.2) | 4.2 (1.2) | 3.9 (1.3) | 0.78a |
| FU length (months, median, IQR) | 71.0 (58.0–127.3) | 83.5 (64.0–127.3) | 66.5 (56.3–127.3) | 0.050b |
| Brain MRI | ||||
| No. of T2 brain lesions (median, IQR) | 12.5 (7.0–21.3) | 17.0 (7.8–28.0) | 9.0 (4.3–16.0) | 0.001b |
| No. of abnormal brain MRI (T2 lesions, %) | 91 (96.8) | 42 (100) | 49 (94.2) | 0.11c |
| No. of T1 Gd+ brain lesions (median, IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 0.5 (0–2) | 0 (0–1) | 0.026 |
| No. of abnormal brain MRI (T1 Gd+ lesions, %) | 37 (39.4) | 21 (50.0) | 16 (30.8) | 0.058c |
| SC MRI | ||||
| No. of T2 SC lesions (median, IQR) | 0 (0–2) | 2 (1–4) | – | – |
| No. of T1 Gd+ SC lesions (median, IQR) | 0 (0–0) | 0 (0–0.3) | – | – |
SC: spinal cord; CIS: clinically isolated syndrome; RRMS: relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis; BL: baseline; SD: standard deviation; IQR: interquartile range; EDSS: Expanded Disability Status Scale; 9-HPT: 9-hole peg test; 25-FWT: 25-Foot Walk Test; FU: follow-up; MRI: magnetic resonance imaging.
1
9 optic nerve, 13 brainstem/post fossa, 6 spinal cord, 4 hemispherical.
2
The sum of both 2nd and 3rd relapse symptom localisation.
3
1 brainstem/posterior fossa, 1 spinal cord.
a
Independent Samples T-test.
b
Mann-Whitney U-test.
c
Chi-square.