We evaluated the brain volume and rate of atrophy in 85 Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). The mean brain volume was smaller and the rate of atrophy appeared to be more rapid in MS patients than in normal subjects. The brain atrophy seemed to exist from the early stage of MS and was prominent in the grey matter. Patients with progressive MS showed severer atrophy. We show the existence of pathological brain atrophy in Japanese MS patients for the first time, although the rate of atrophy may be much slower than in Caucasian patients. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.