STUDY ON BRAIN ATROPHY AND COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN MS PATIENTS DURING FIRST TWO YEARS OF DISEASE ONSET.

Multiple Sclerosis is an inflammatory demyelinating process of central nervous system. The purpose of this study was assessment of brain atrophy and cognitive dysfunction during the first two years of disease evolution.

Patients and Methods: In a case-control study, 50 cases as patients and 50 normal ones as the control group were included. Twelve patients were male (24%) and 38 were female (76%). The age of cases and controls ones was 15-35. The cases with documented MS of relapsing-remitting type passing the first 2 years of the disease were followed for about 15 months with EDSS and MMSE. MRI films were examined for ICR and then were compared to 50 MRI films of the controls to determine the normal ICR.

Results: The mean of ICR was 0.107±0.23 in the case group and 0.099±0.21 in the control group that showed no evidence of brain atrophy in patients during the first two years of the disease (P=0.084).

The relation between MMSE and EDSS of patients was reverse i.e. when MMSE score increased, there was a decrease in the score of EDSS and vice versa.

Conclusion: In our study, occurrence of brain atrophy during the first two years of RRMS was not observed. However, there was cognitive dysfunction in 46% of patient that presented early onset of cognitive problems in these patients