ABSTRACT
Objective To compare the clinical features between radiological isolated syndrome (RIS) and classical multiple sclerosis (CMS), in order to improve the understanding of the RIS. Methods All 35 patients with RIS and 32 patients with CMS were selected. The epidemiological and clinical findings, cerebrospinal fluid, neural electrophysiological examination and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were analyzed. Results There were no statistical differences in sex ratio and onset age between RIS patients and CMS patients (P>0.05). The main symptoms of in patients with RIS were headache (45.7%, 16/35), dizziness (40.0%, 14/35), hypomnesis (20.0%, 7/35) and psychiatric disorders (11.4%, 4/35). But the main symptoms of in patients with CMS were limb weakness (75.0%, 24/32), sensory abnormalities (68.8%, 22/32) and ocular symptoms (34.4%,11/32). The incidences of limb weakness, sensory abnormalities and ocular symptoms in patients with CMS were significantly higher than those in patients with RIS:75.0%(24/32) vs. 0, 68.8%(22/32) vs. 0 and 34.4%(11/32) vs. 0, and there were statistical differences (P0.05). The cerebrospinal fluid protein and the incidences of IgG index>0.7 in patients with RIS were significantly lower than those in patients with CMS:0.175 (0.03-0.69) g/L vs. 0.440 (0.04-1.09) g/L and 3/18 vs. 47.6%(10/21), and there were statistical differences (P0.05). On MRI, the demyelinating lesions of RIS and CMS were both mainly distributed in the periventricular, semi-oval center, infratentorial white matter, partly involving corpus callosum or cortical. The rates of demyelinating lesions in brainstem and cerebellum in patients with RIS were significantly lower than those in patients with CMS:5.7%(2/35) vs. 34.4% (11/32) and 2.9% (1/35) vs. 25.0% (8/32), and there were statistical differences (P<0.01 or <0.05). Comparison with CMS lesions, RIS lesions mainly showed patching and stippled, and there were statistical differences (P<0.01 or <0.05). The rates of lesions enhancement and spinal cord injury in patients with RIS were significantly lower than those in patients with CMS: 2/17 vs. 45.0% (9/20) and 1/14 vs. 43.5% (10/23), and there were statistical differences (P<0.05). Conclusions There are differences in clinical findings, cerebrospinal fluid, neural electrophysiological examination and MRI appearances between RIS and CMS.