Radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) is when a patient has typical inflammatory lesions on an MRI scan, but have had no symptoms that would be typical for multiple sclerosis (MS).
RIS is a relatively new condition, effectively having been created by the wider availability of MRI imaging, so we don’t know the lifetime risk of MS is in patients with RIS.
In the short to medium term, the majority of patients don’t develop symptomatic MS, but we would recommend surveillance scans.
Last reviewed: 05 September 2024
