PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Matthews, Lucy AU - Marasco, Rita AU - Jenkinson, Mark AU - Küker, Wilhelm AU - Luppe, Sebastian AU - Leite, Maria Isabel AU - Giorgio, Antonio AU - De Stefano, Nicola AU - Robertson, Neil AU - Johansen-Berg, Heidi AU - Evangelou, Nikos AU - Palace, Jacqueline TI - Distinction of seropositive NMO spectrum disorder and MS brain lesion distribution AID - 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182887957 DP - 2013 Apr 02 TA - Neurology PG - 1330--1337 VI - 80 IP - 14 4099 - http://n.neurology.org/content/80/14/1330.short 4100 - http://n.neurology.org/content/80/14/1330.full SO - Neurology2013 Apr 02; 80 AB - Objective: Neuromyelitis optica and its spectrum disorder (NMOSD) can present similarly to relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). Using a quantitative lesion mapping approach, this research aimed to identify differences in MRI brain lesion distribution between aquaporin-4 antibody–positive NMOSD and RRMS, and to test their diagnostic potential.Methods: Clinical brain MRI sequences for 44 patients with aquaporin-4 antibody–positive NMOSD and 50 patients with RRMS were examined for the distribution and morphology of brain lesions. T2 lesion maps were created for each subject allowing the quantitative comparison of the 2 conditions with lesion probability and voxel-wise analysis.Results: Sixty-three percent of patients with NMOSD had brain lesions and of these 27% were diagnostic of multiple sclerosis. Patients with RRMS were significantly more likely to have lesions adjacent to the body of the lateral ventricle than patients with NMOSD. Direct comparison of the probability distributions and the morphologic attributes of the lesions in each group identified criteria of “at least 1 lesion adjacent to the body of the lateral ventricle and in the inferior temporal lobe; or the presence of a subcortical U-fiber lesion; or a Dawson's finger-type lesion,” which could distinguish patients with multiple sclerosis from those with NMOSD with 92% sensitivity, 96% specificity, 98% positive predictive value, and 86% negative predictive value.Conclusion: Careful inspection of the distribution and morphology of MRI brain lesions can distinguish RRMS and NMOSD.AQP4=aquaporin-4; AQP4-abs=aquaporin-4 antibodies; FLAIR=fluid-attenuated inversion recovery; FMRIB=Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain; LETM=longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis; MNI=Montreal Neurological Institute; MS=multiple sclerosis; NMO=neuromyelitis optica; NMOSD=neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder; RRMS=relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis