الفهرس 
Anatomy of the Brain, Spinal Cord and Optic NerveOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Neuromylitis Optica spectrum disorder (NMO) are demyelinating inflammatory disorders that affect the CNS causing symptoms ranging from minor sensory deficits up to sudden visual loss and major motor deficits. Both entities require Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in approaching the diagnosis. Despite the major development achieved in the past two decades regarding the criteria used to diagnose NMO and MS, NMO is often misdiagnosed as MS and vice versa. The aim of our study is to highlight the role of MR in diagnosis of MS and NMOSD.
Aim of the work: To investigate the ability of conventional MR imaging findings to differentiate between NMOSD and MS by comparing brain, spinal cord and optic nerve lesion patterns between the two groups.
Patients and Methods: Study Setting: The study was conducted at the department of Radiology and Nuclear medicine in Ain Shams University Hospitals. Study type: prospective study. Study Period: 11 months from April 2020 till March 2021. Study Population: A total of 68 patients was referred to our institution from the neurology department 39 of which were diagnosed as MS patients and 29 patients as NMOSD.
Results: Our study included 34 patients with MS and 22 with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders patients for brain analysis, 33 with MS and 22 with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders patients for spinal cord analysis, and 13 MS with and 15 with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders patients for optic nerve analysis. We found a significant difference in the number, site, pattern, enhancement and characteristic lesions between both groups . We found a significant difference in the transverse as well as the longitudinal extent of the lesions between these 2 diseases: There was higher number of patients with less than 2 vertebral body lesions among the MS group in comparison to NMOSD group(P=0.004). Whilst there was significantly higher number of patients with more than 3 vertebral body lesions among the NMOSD group(P<0.0001). There was significantly higher number of patients with less than or equal to 50 % (P=0.038) cord affection among the MS group, compared to higher number of patients with more than 50 %(P=0.028) affection of the cord in the NMOSD groups.We also found statistically significant higher number of patients with optic nerve swelling and enhancement in NMOSD group compared to MS group (P=0.037)(P=0.003).
Conclusion: Our study confirmed imaging differences, especially in brain and spinal cord lesions, between neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and MS.