Association between cervical disc disease and lesions of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Background Cervical discopathy and demyelinating lesions often co-exist in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Our study examines the possible association between these two pathologies. Methods Medical records and cervical magnetic resonance imaging scans of MS patients with cervical discopathy who were seen at our MS clinic during 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The severity of the disc disease was classified as grade I (no compression), grade II (compression of the dural sac) and grade III (cord compression). The spinal cord in each scan was divided into six segments corresponding to the intervertebral space of the spine (C1–C6). Each segment was defined as containing demyelinating lesion and disc pathology (group 1), demyelinating lesion without disc pathology (group 2), disc pathology without demyelinating lesion (group 3) and no demyelinating lesion or disc pathology (group 4). Fisher’s exact test was used to test the association between demyelinating lesions and disc pathology. Results Thirty-four MS patients with cervical discopathy were included in the study (26 females; average age 42.9 ± 13.7 years; average disease duration 8.4 ± 5.4 years). A total of 204 spinal cord segments were evaluated. Twenty-four segments were classified as group 1, 27 segments as group 2, 52 segments as group 3 and 101 segments as group 4. There was no association between demyelinating lesions and the grade of disc disease ( p = 0.1 for grade I, p = 0.3 for grade II and p = 1 for grade III disc disease). Conclusion Our study did not find any association between cervical disc disease and demyelinating spinal cord lesion.