Automated measurements of cerebral atrophy in multiple sclerosis.

An automated method of measuring cerebral atrophy is introduced. Using this method we studied patients with multiple sclerosis and a control group showing premature cerebral atrophy in multiple sclerosis (P = 1,32 x 10(-8) for male and P = 3,6 x 10(-14) for female). There was only a weak correlation between cerebral atrophy and psychological deficits. Multivariate analysis did not show any significant correlation between cerebral atrophy, duration of disease, clinical manifestations and progression of disease. We conclude that our method to measure cerebral atrophy is more accurate and less time-consuming than the use of linear indices. It might be appropriate for further investigations in evaluating atrophic processes in cerebro-vascular, degenerative and exogen-toxic disease of brain.