Brain Drain

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease that causes progressive damage to the nerves of the brain and central nervous system. It may also decrease the number of veins serving sufferers’ brains. Comparing brain images from a healthy person (top row) with those from two patients suffering from different stages of MS (lower rows), the differences in brain vein number and density are clear. The number of veins serving the brain (two columns marked in blue) is reduced in the two MS patients. And the presence of more brown-yellow spots in the patient brains in the far-left column represents areas where there are fewer veins. Analysing images from many individuals showed that a reduction in brain veins was more likely with MS. Compromised blood flow in the brain can lead to reduced metabolism in MS patients, putting them at risk of stroke.

Written by Andrew Purcell

Andrew Purcell

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As a science journalist Andrew is currently online producer for New Scientist. Former editor of I, Science magazine at Imperial College, he also won The Science Challenge 2011.

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• Robert Zivadinov
• Neuroimaging Analysis Center, State University of New York at Buffalo, USA
• Originally published under Creative Commons (CC-BY 2.0)
• Published in BMC Neurology