Objective: The objective of this study was to assess if the presence of new lesions and their topography on the reference MRI have a prognostic value regarding disease activity during the follow up in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients.Methods: Retrospective cohort study that included patients with RRMS who had a reference MRI (performed at 6 months from the onset of a DMT) and radiological and clinical follow up for at least two years. We identified the number of new MRI lesions and their topography at reference MRI and during the follow up. Cox proportional hazards model analysis was used to evaluate the association between new lesions on reference MRI and the appearance of new lesions and/or clinical relapses at 24-month follow-up.Results: 56 patients were included, 13 (23.2%) showed new lesions in the reference MRI. The presence of new lesions at reference MRI predicted the occurrence of new lesions at month 24 (HR 3.1, CI 95% 2.5-5.8). The number of lesions and the infratentorial topography at reference MRI were associated with an increased risk of new radiological activity during follow up (HR 3.5, IC95% 3.1-6.1 and HR 2.4, IC95% 1.9-2.7 respectively).Conclusion: New lesions at the reference MRI in terms of number and topography increase the risk of radiological disease activity during the follow up.

中文翻译：

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复发缓解型多发性硬化症患者在随访6个月后开始治疗时出现新的MRI病变和地形，并发现疾病活动。

目的：本研究的目的是评估复发性多发性硬化症（RRMS）患者在随访过程中是否存在新病变及其在MRI上的地形对疾病活动的预后价值。方法：回顾性队列研究包括接受参考MRI（在DMT发作后6个月进行）且放射学和临床随访至少两年的RRMS患者。我们在参考MRI以及随访期间确定了新的MRI病变的数量及其形貌。使用Cox比例风险模型分析来评估参考MRI上新病变与24个月随访中新病变的出现和/或临床复发之间的相关性。结果：纳入了56例患者，其中13例（23.2％）显示为新病变参考MRI。参考MRI处新病变的出现预示了在24个月时新病变的发生（HR 3.1，CI 95％2.5-5.8）。参考MRI上的病变数目和腹腔镜下地形与随访期间新的放射学活动风险增加相关（HR 3.5，IC95％3.1-6.1和HR 2.4，IC95％1.9-2.7）。在数量和地形方面，参考MRI会增加随访过程中放射性疾病活动的风险。