The relationship of multiple sclerosis and cerebral developmental venous anomaly with an advantageous role in the multiple sclerosis diagnosis

There is a suggestion for a role of abnormal cranial venous drainage in the etiopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Moreover, it seems that cerebral developmental venous anomaly (DVA), a cerebrovascular malformation, is frequently seen in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of MS patients. This study is set out to evaluate the relationship between MS and cerebral DVA, with its possible role in the MS diagnosis.

We compared MRI of 172 MS patients and of 172 age- and sex-matched subjects without MS. Then, we recorded and analyzed the presence, number, and location of developmental venous anomalies.

Frequency of DVA did not have a significant statistical difference (P = 0.148) in subjects with MS (12.21%) and without MS (7.55%). Moreover, a difference of anatomic distribution of supratentorial developmental venous anomalies was not statistically significant (P = 0.690, for juxtacortical, P = 0.510 for subcortical, and P = 0.420 for periventricular DVAs) in two groups.

Our investigation does not provide supporting evidence for a relationship between etiopathogenesis of MS and DVA. Furthermore, it may not be possible to use cerebral DVA as ancillary MRI finding to make MS diagnosis simpler and more accurate.