Adaptive functional changes in the cerebral cortex of patients with nondisabling multiple sclerosis correlate with the extent of brain structural damage

In multiple sclerosis, the mechanisms underlying the accumulation of disability are poorly understood. Recently, it has been suggested that adaptive cortical changes may limit the clinical impact of multiple sclerosis injury. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging and a general search method were used to assess patterns of brain activation associated with a simple motor task in 14 right‐handed, nondisabled relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis patients that were compared to those from 15 right‐handed, sex‐ and age‐matched healthy volunteers. Also investigated were the extent to which the functional magnetic resonance imaging changes correlated with T2 lesion volume and severity of multiple sclerosis pathology in lesions and normal‐appearing brain tissue, measured using magnetisation transfer and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to controls, multiple sclerosis patients showed increased activation in the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex, bilaterally in the supplementary motor area, bilaterally in the cingulate motor area, in the contralateral ascending bank of the sylvian fissure, and in the contralateral intraparietal sulcus. T2 lesion volume was correlated with relative activation in the ipsilateral supplementary motor area, and in the ipsilateral and contralateral cingulate motor area. Average lesion magnetisaiton transfer ratio and average lesion water diffusivity were correlated with relative activation in the contralateral sensorimotor cortex. Average lesion magnetisation transfer ratio was also correlated with relative activation in the ipsilateral cingulate motor area. Average water diffusivity and peak height of the normal‐appearing brain tissue diffusivity histogram were both correlated with relative activation in the contralateral intraparietal sulcus. This study shows that cortical activation occurs over a rather distributed sensorimotor network in nondisabled relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis patients. It also suggests that increased recruitment of this cortical network contributes to the limitation of the functional impact of white matter multiple sclerosis injury.