Morphological Evaluation of Corpus Callosum Atrophy Over Time in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Objective: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic central nervous system (CNS) disease that generally affects young adults and is marked by inflammation, demyelination, and neurodegeneration. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is widely used diagnosis tool for relapsing remitting MS (RRMS). Corpus callosum (CC), the largest commissural tract in brain which is associated with both cognitive and physical impairment by atrophy in MS. Our study aimed to evaluate CC in RRMS patients using MR images and compare it to measurements from healthy controls within the same age. Methods: We manually measured changes in CC thickness in T1 brain MR images of RRMS patients in 2017, 2019, and 2022. Results: Our results showed that control group had greater thickness, length, and index values in all CC sections compared to patient group. Additionally, a significant difference was observed in thickness of genu and splenium sections and CC index between patient and control groups. However, no significant difference was detected in truncus part of CC or overall CC length. CC measurements in patient group decreased over time, with 1st MRI showing greater values than 2nd and 3rd MRI scans. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant difference in thickness of truncus part of CC and volume values of subcortical areas between 2nd-3rd and 1st-3rd MRI measurements. Conclusion: As a result of these findings, our study provides important information about changes in CC measurements for MS patients.