Multiple sclerosis lesions and atrophy in the spinal cord: Distribution across vertebral levels and correlation with disability

•In multiple sclerosis, spinal cord lesions and atrophy are measurable by whole spinal cord MRI with axial and sagittal coverage in a large patient cohort and in healthy control subjects.•Spinal cord lesions and atrophy are accentuated in the cervical enlargement.•They have already developed at the stage of RRMS and continue developing in a clinically meaningful way at later stages.•Yet they remain largely independent.