Mitigating Misdiagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis through the Analysis of Advanced Neuroimaging

Thomas M. Menino Convention & Exhibition Center 

Multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory and degenerative disease of the central nervous system, affects approximately a million Americans. While MS lesions detectable on magnetic resonance imaging, their radiological presentation is like that of many other neurological conditions. The overinterpretation of imaging findings has given rise to an epidemic of misdiagnosis of MS. As novel imaging modalities that allow for better lesion characterization promising increased specificity for MS have increased in popularity, the challenges of quantifying these signatures of disease are mounting. Furthermore, other features, including morphology and morphometry of normal-appearing brain structures that are not detectable by the human eye, have recently been demonstrated to have diagnostic value and are now included in the diagnostic criteria. Leveraging multi-modal imaging approaches that focus on knowledge about etiology is critical for developing the next generation of robust and generalizable diagnostic imaging biomarkers.

imaging

multiple sclerosis