White Matter Abnormalities in Multiple Sclerosis: A Network-Meta-Analysis of Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging Studies

Motivation: We want to confirm MK's ability in MS by a meta-analysis because different research have reported contradicting outcomes of MK value (that can indicate axon and myelin microstructural complexity). Goal(s): To compare DKI in WMLs and NAWM Approach: Tabular pairwise comparison estimates for each category. Mean ranks, 95% confidence intervals, and cumulative ranking curve were shown. Results: 3 studies evaluated MK in NAWM and WM among MS patients; 4 compared MK in WM among control and MS patients; and 5 compared MK in WM and NAWM as well. Impact: The study found that MS WMLs and NAWM have lower MKs. The findings may help physicians evaluate MS WMLs using MK consistency.