News Siemens Healthineers and Biogen to Enhance MRI’s Ability to Help MS Patients Siemens Healthineers and Biogen to Enhance MRI’s Ability to Help MS Patients by Patricia Silva, PhD | January 19, 2017 Share this article: Share article via email Copy article link Siemens Healthineers and BiogenĀ will collaborate to develop new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications that can quantify key markers of multiple sclerosis (MS). āBy bringing together the shared expertise of both Siemens Healthineers and Biogen in imaging and neurology, respectively, we seek to develop new measurement tools that meet the particular technical challenges of MS,ā Christoph Zindel, senior vice president of MRI at Siemens Healthineers, said in a press release. āOur shared goal is to create a solution that can be integrated into the existing radiology workflow, so it can become a seamless part of routine care ā delivering new and valuable information to treating neurologists without increasing the cost or burden on the healthcare system,ā Zindel added. Many physicians use MRI to diagnose and track MS. It not only measures disease activity but also monitors response to therapies. At the moment, the way most doctors assess MRI results is comparing a current image with a previous one. Studies have concluded that quantifying MRI results would yield more information about prognoses and effects of treatment. Although the measurement techniques exist, they are mostly available only in research laboratories. āBiogen believes that the availability of high-quality, standardized data at the point of care can lead to a deeper understanding of MS, more informed treatment decisions and, ultimately, improved patient outcomes,ā said Richard Rudick, MD, the company’s vice president of development sciences. āWe also recognize that the ability to generate research-quality data in the course of routine clinical practice can unlock the potential of the health care system to move towards precision medicine.ā In related news, if you would like to know more about MRIs and what to ask your doctor about them, read Debi Wilsonās column āKnow which questions to ask your neurologist about MRIs.ā Debi was diagnosed with primary progressive MS in 2010. Since then, she has written to help others fight the disease. Print This Page About the Author Patricia Silva, PhD PatrĆcia holds a PhD in medical microbiology and infectious diseases from the Leiden University Medical Center, Netherlands, and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Lisbon, Portugal. Her work in academia was mainly focused on molecular biology and the genetic traits of infectious agents such as viruses and parasites. PatrĆcia earned several travel awards to present her work at international scientific meetings. She is a published author of several peer-reviewed science articles. Tags Biogen, disease activity, MRI
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