A Deep-Learning Approach to Predicting Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Artificial intelligence (AI) approaches have been applied in several fields of multiple sclerosis (MS) in recent years. However, their application to predict disease progression remains largely unexplored. In this study, we obtained a robust and accurate AI tool for predicting clinical and cognitive evolution at two years for MS patients, based on just T1-weighted and T2-weighted brain MRI scans at baseline visit, which exceeded the performance of two expert physicians blinded to patients’ clinical history. This algorithm has the potential to be an important tool to support physicians for a prompt recognition of MS patients at risk of disease worsening.