DOES HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE INFLUENCE BRAIN LESION DISTRIBUTION IN MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

To evaluate whether hemispheric lesion distribution in multiple sclero sis is related to the uneven interhemispheric localisation of cerebral function, a 10 item self administered questionnaire evaluating hand p reference and supratentorial brain MRI was obtained in 23 patients wit h clinically definite multiple sclerosis. The mean degree of hand pref erence was +74 (range -86 to +100). The median lesion volumes were 727 5 (range 1045-22 440) mm(3) for the left hemisphere and 5385 (range 10 10-19 490) mm(3) for the right hemisphere. The degree of hand preferen ce correlated with the index of interhemispheric lesion distribution ( P = 0.02). The data suggest that local events, possibly related to spe cialisation of hemispheric function, might be responsible for the incr eased vulnerability of the dominant hemisphere to the pathological pro cess of multiple sclerosis.