ReviewSpinal cord2025
Spinal cord metabolism in multiple sclerosis: a decade of missed opportunities and future directions.
Review in Spinal cord, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Cerebrospinal fluid glucose levels and their association with disability, depression, and cognitive function in multiple sclerosis.Metabolic brain disease · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
designReview article.
backgroundDespite spinal cord pathology driving progressive disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), research has disproportionately focused on brain imaging. The clinical manifestations most relevant to MS patients-mobility impairment, fatigue, and autonomic dysfunction-derive primarily from spinal cord involvement, yet spinal cord metabolism remains virtually unexplored.
objectiveTo quantify the research gap in spinal cord metabolic imaging and evaluate scientific rationale, technological readiness, and implementation potential for establishing this approach as a cornerstone of MS research.
methodsI conducted a structured literature analysis of MS imaging publications (2014-2024) using defined PubMed searches, analyzed clinical trial registries for metabolic endpoints, and reviewed technological advances supporting clinical implementation.
resultsThe analysis revealed a striking 949:1 publication ratio between brain and spinal cord metabolic imaging studies, with only three spinal cord metabolic investigations versus 2847 brain imaging studies. Our 2014 study using ¹⁸F-FDG PET during walking exercise demonstrated significantly reduced glucose uptake in MS patients' thoracic and lumbar spinal cord regions, correlating strongly with functional disability. Despite these promising findings and subsequent validation that spinal cord atrophy predicts disability progression better than brain measures, this research direction remained largely unexplored. Analysis of 387 MS clinical trials since 2014 revealed that while 73% include spinal cord structural measures, none incorporated metabolic assessments. Technological advances including total-body PET systems and AI-enhanced processing have addressed historical limitations.
conclusionsSpinal cord metabolic imaging represents a transformative but neglected research opportunity that could revolutionize MS biomarker development and precision medicine approaches.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.