Diagnostic Performance of Cortical Lesions and the Central Vein Sign in Multiple Sclerosis
Key Points Question Can multiple sclerosis (MS) be differentiated from a wide range of non-MS conditions showing brain white matter lesions using solely imaging biomarkers for cortical lesions (CLs) and central vein sign (CVS)? Findings In this cross-sectional study including 1051 participants, the presence of CLs had high specificity and low sensitivity, while application of the 40% CVS rule resulted in high specificity and moderate sensitivity for MS diagnosis. CVS and CLs outperformed the contribution of infratentorial, periventricular, and juxtacortical lesions in supporting the diagnosis of MS. Meaning The findings indicate that CVS and CLs may be valuable tools to increase the accuracy of MS diagnosis.