ArticleBrain : a journal of neurology2009
Sensorimotor dysfunction in multiple sclerosis and column-specific magnetization transfer-imaging abnormalities in the spinal cord.
Article in Brain : a journal of neurology, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 77 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
77 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Translating state-of-the-art spinal cord MRI techniques to clinical use: A systematic review of clinical studies utilizing DTI, MT, MWF, MRS, and fMRI.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2016Pooled it
- Joint assessment of brain and spinal cord motor tract damage in patients with early RRMS: predominant impact of spinal cord lesions on motor function.Journal of neurology · 2019Trial
- Time course of strength adaptations following high-intensity resistance training in individuals with multiple sclerosis.European journal of applied physiology · 2017Trial
- Quantitative measures detect sensory and motor impairments in multiple sclerosis.Journal of the neurological sciences · 2011Trial
- Rethinking prognosis in multiple sclerosis: a multiaxial perspective.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Association Between Motor Pathway Damage and Motor Deficit in Upper and Lower Limb in People With MS.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2026Article
- Probabilistic mapping and automated segmentation of human brainstem white matter bundles.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Motor tract lesion mapping from the brain to the lower spinal cord in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: exploring the association between lesion severity and functional consequences by limb.Brain communications · 2026Article
- Cervical Spinal Cord Magnetization Transfer Ratio and Its Relationship With Clinical Outcomes in Multiple Sclerosis.Annals of clinical and translational neurology · 2025Article
- Changes in functional connectivity in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis spinal cord measured via region-based and data-driven analyses.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Longitudinal multiparametric MRI of traumatic spinal cord injury in animal models.Magnetic resonance imaging · 2023Review
- Long-lasting pain and somatosensory disturbances in children with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease.European journal of pediatrics · 2023Article
- Neuroimaging Technology in Exercise Neurorehabilitation Research in Persons with MS: A Scoping Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Mapping the rest of the human connectome: Atlasing the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system.NeuroImage · 2021Review
- Macromolecular changes in spinal cord white matter characterize whiplash outcome at 1-year post motor vehicle collision.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Magnetization Transfer Ratio and Morphometrics of the Spinal Cord Associates with Surgical Recovery in Patients with Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.World neurosurgery · 2020Article
- Imaging of the Spinal Cord in Multiple Sclerosis: Past, Present, Future.Brain sciences · 2020Review
- Combining Magnetization Transfer Ratio MRI and Quantitative Measures of Walking Improves the Identification of Fallers in MS.Brain sciences · 2020Article
- Observational
- Impaired speed-dependent modulation of the gait pattern in multiple sclerosis.Journal of neurology · 2020Article
17 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The human spinal cord contains segregated sensory and motor pathways that have been difficult to quantify using conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. Multiple sclerosis is characterized by both focal and spatially diffuse spinal cord lesions with heterogeneous pathologies that have limited attempts at linking MRI and behaviour. We used a novel magnetization-transfer-weighted imaging approach to quantify damage to spinal white matter columns and tested its association with sensorimotor impairment. We studied 42 participants with multiple sclerosis who each underwent MRI at 3 Tesla and quantitative tests of sensorimotor function. We measured cerebrospinal-fluid-normalized magnetization-transfer signals in the dorsal and lateral columns and grey matter of the cervical cord. We also measured brain lesion volume, cervical spinal cord lesion number and cross-sectional area, vibration sensation, strength, walking velocity and standing balance. We used linear regression to assess the relationship between sensorimotor impairment and MRI abnormalities. We found that the dorsal column cerebrospinal-fluid-normalized magnetization-transfer signal specifically correlated with vibration sensation (R = 0.58, P < 0.001) and the lateral column signal with strength (R = -0.45, P = 0.003). Spinal cord signal measures also correlated with walking and balance dysfunction. A stepwise multiple regression showed that the dorsal column signal and diagnosis subtype alone explained a significant portion of the variance in sensation (R(2) = 0.54, P < 0.001), whereas the lateral column signal and diagnosis subtype explained a significant portion of the variance in strength (R(2) = 0.30, P < 0.001). These results help to understand the anatomic basis of sensorimotor disability in multiple sclerosis and have implications for testing the effects of neuroprotective and reparative interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.