Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42414487›Full record

ArticleCommunications medicine2026

Quantifying cortical lesions in multiple sclerosis MRI datasets using multi-contrast post-processing and deep learning.

Michael G Dwyer, Niels Bergsland, Alexander Bartnik, Dejan Jakimovski, Samantha Noteboom, Menno M Schoonheim, Martijn D Steenwijk, Jinglan Pei, David Clayton, Robert Zivadinov

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Michael G DwyerBuffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA. mgdwyer@buffalo.edu.
Niels BergslandBuffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Alexander BartnikBuffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Dejan JakimovskiBuffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.
Samantha NoteboomMS Center Amsterdam, Anatomy and Neurosciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Menno M SchoonheimMS Center Amsterdam, Anatomy and Neurosciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2504-6959
Martijn D SteenwijkMS Center Amsterdam, Anatomy and Neurosciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam UMC location VUmc, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Jinglan PeiGenentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.
David ClaytonGenentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.
Robert ZivadinovBuffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7799-1485

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMultiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurological disease affecting both white and gray matter of the central nervous system. Despite the well-established involvement of cortical lesions in MS, feasibility limitations in their visualization on typical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols prevent their evaluation in nearly all clinical trials. Recently, several post-processing methods, including synthetic contrasts and artificial intelligence (AI)-based approaches, have shown potential for enhancing cortical lesion detection on conventional MRI data. These methods have the potential to reanalyze existing clinical-trial data to answer key mechanistic questions about both MS development and about treatment effects.

methodsWe sought to evaluate the feasibility of combining and extending existing methods into a unified framework for analysis using the data from the large, multicenter, phase 3 ORATORIO trial (full n = 732, age=44.6 ± 8.0; development subset n = 80, age=46.6 ± 7.1). We specifically evaluated three of the most promising of them - fluid-attenuated inversion recovery squared (FLAIR

resultsAt baseline, we detected 14.8 + /-20.72 lesions per participant, with 86.0% true positive rate and 8.4% false positive rate across subjects for blinded MMCLE, using simultaneous review of all contrasts as the reference. High reproducibility was observed across field strengths and acquisition types (ICC 88.8-92.5%).

conclusionsWe confirmed that cortical lesions can be clearly visualized and quantified with these methods. Using deep learning, we also confirmed that the simultaneous use of multiple contrasts improves quantification.

Identifiers

PMID42414487
PMCPMC13342072

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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.