Diffusion-Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging Detects Normal-Appearing White Matter Damage Unrelated to Short-term Disease Activity in Patients at the Earliest Clinical Stage of Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

In patients with multiple sclerosis at the earliest clinical stage, the severity of NAWM damage does not predict new lesion formation in the short term, suggesting that the "diffuse" component of tissue damage is, at least partially, independent of the "discrete," predominantly inflammatory aspects of the disease since its clinical onset.