Natural History Evaluation of Multiple Sclerosis Through Neuroimaging

Study Description: This study is primarily designed to examine the evolving natural history of multiple sclerosis (MS) and its mimickers, viewed through the window of neuroimaging (especially magnetic resonance imaging or MRI). After required baseline evaluation, follow-up study timepoints are driven by clinical standard-of-care, and data from clinically driven procedures may be analyzed for research. Optional research procedures may also be performed during these visits. Optional research-only visits may be scheduled to further investigate findings from the clinical visits. The same research procedures may be performed in healthy volunteers to assess whether the research findings are specific to the affected participant group. Objectives: To describe the evolving natural history of MS, viewed clinically, radiologically, and biologically, both prior to and after the introduction of increasingly effective disease modifying therapies (DMT). The protocol has three other important objectives: (1) screening prospective participants for selected NINDS Neuroimmunology Clinic trials; (2) studying healthy volunteers for comparison with affected participants and for development of new experimental technologies; and (3) comparing MS to other neurological diseases that share imaging or clinical features. Endpoints: The primary endpoint is the rate of change in the number of new white matter lesions per participant, indexed by the date of baseline evaluation.