Helen Branson1,2, Monica Makhijma2, Manohar Shroff2,3, Sandra Magalhaes2, Leonard H. Verhey4, Brenda Banwell2
1The University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 2The Hospital for Sick Children, Canada; 3The University of Toronto, Canada; 4Neurosciences & Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada
MRI characteristics of spinal cord lesions in children with multiple sclerosis (MS) and how they differ from those of children with acute transverse myelitis (ATM) have not been well-studied. Using a standardized MRI scoring tool, we compared spinal cord lesions in children with clinically-definite MS to children with monophasic ATM. We found that, compared to MS patients, children with ATM have longer lesions and are more likely to be found in anterior and central spinal cord regions. In contrast, children with MS were more likely to have lesions in the posterior aspect of cervical and thoracic regions.