Trial reportJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry2003
Spinal cord atrophy and disability in multiple sclerosis over four years: application of a reproducible automated technique in monitoring disease progression in a cohort of the interferon beta-1a (Rebif) treatment trial.
Trial report in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 135 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neuroimaging markers and disability scales in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Medulla oblongata volume: a biomarker of spinal cord damage and disability in multiple sclerosis.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2008Trial
- Longitudinal Spinal Cord Atrophy in Patients With Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder and Its Association With Rituximab Treatment.Neurology · 2026Article
- Upper Cervical Cord Area as a Biomarker of Conversion to Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Neurodegeneration in multiple sclerosis.WIREs mechanisms of disease · 2023Review
- Predictive MRI Biomarkers in MS-A Critical Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- Cervical and thoracic cord atrophy in multiple sclerosis phenotypes: Quantification and correlation with clinical disability.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2021Article
- Imaging of the Spinal Cord in Multiple Sclerosis: Past, Present, Future.Brain sciences · 2020Review
- Fully automatic 3D segmentation of the thoracolumbar spinal cord and the vertebral canal from T2-weighted MRI using K-means clustering algorithm.Spinal cord · 2020Article
- Magnetic resonance imaging correlates of neuro-axonal pathology in the MS spinal cord.Brain pathology (Zurich, Switzerland) · 2018Review
- Application of Color Transformation Techniques in Pediatric Spinal Cord MR Images: Typically Developing and Spinal Cord Injury Population.Journal of digital imaging · 2018Article
- Future Brain and Spinal Cord Volumetric Imaging in the Clinic for Monitoring Treatment Response in MS.Current treatment options in neurology · 2018Review
- Cervical spinal cord atrophy: An early marker of progressive MS onset.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2018Article
- Cervical Cord Atrophy and Long-Term Disease Progression in Patients with Primary-Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology · 2018Article
- The Role of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Techniques in Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Trials.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2017Review
- Relevance of early cervical cord volume loss in the disease evolution of clinically isolated syndrome and early multiple sclerosis: a 2-year follow-up study.Journal of neurology · 2017Observational
- Imaging as an Outcome Measure in Multiple Sclerosis.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2017Review
- The Effect of Glatiramer Acetate on Spinal Cord Volume in Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging · 2017Article
- The effect of intramuscular interferon beta-1a on spinal cord volume in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.BMC medical imaging · 2016Article
- Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPathology in the cervical spinal cord is considered an important cause of disability in multiple sclerosis. However, the majority of serial studies have failed to find a correlation between spinal cord atrophy and disability.
objectivesTo use a highly reproducible and accurate method to quantify spinal cord area change on three dimensional magnetic resonance imaging and relate this to disability change in patients with multiple sclerosis.
methods38 patients with multiple sclerosis (20 with the relapsing-remitting (RRMS) form and 18 with the secondary progressive (SPMS) form) were imaged at baseline and at months 6, 12, 18, and 48 during two treatment trials of the high dose subcutaneous thrice weekly interferon beta-1a (IFNbeta, Rebif). Thirty one healthy subjects were also imaged at baseline. Upper cervical cord area (UCCA) was measured using Sobel edge detection.
resultsThe intraobserver coefficient of variation of the method was 0.42%. A significant reduction in UCCA was detected at month 6 in the placebo group (p = 0.04) and at month 12 for INFbeta (p = 0.03). The mean reduction of UCCA at month 48 was 5.7% for patients initially on placebo who received treatment at 24 months (RRMS) or at 36 months (SPMS), and 4.5% for those on IFNbeta throughout the study (p = 0.35). The change in UCCA was significantly correlated with change in the expanded disability status scale at month 12 (r = 0.4, p = 0.016), month 18 (r = 0.32, p = 0.05), and month 48 (r = 0.4, p = 0.016) in the total cohort.
conclusionsDespite the small number of patients studied and the possible confounding effects of interferon treatment, this study showed that edge detection is reproducible and sensitive to changes in spinal cord area, and that this change is related to changes in clinical disability. This suggests a role for measurement of spinal cord atrophy in monitoring disease progression and possible treatment effects in clinical trails.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.