diagnosis

Quanterix Corporation‘s laboratory test designed to measure blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) has been validated by the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA), an arm of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that regulates laboratory testing. The company now is planning to launch its laboratory developed test,…

The European Investment Bank has entered a financial agreement with Numares Health to support further development of a fully automated platform to improve the diagnosis of chronic diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The loan of up to €20 million (about $21 million) is expected to advance the…

Levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a biomarker of nerve cell damage, may help predict multiple sclerosis (MS) prognosis and response to treatment with Gilenya (fingolimod), according to a review of five randomized clinical trials. Most of the evaluations in the review study were qualitative, however, meaning trial…

What’s in a name? Does it really matter if your multiple sclerosis (MS) is called relapsing or progressive, or secondary rather than primary? I’ve never thought so, and the International Advisory Committee on Clinical Trials in MS agrees with me. The panel is calling for new methods…

In a new collaboration, Brainomix will distribute in Europe a software solution developed by Pixyl that uses deep learning to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of multiple sclerosis (MS) via MRI scans. According to the partners, Pixyl‘s technology can detect abnormalities on magnetic resonance imaging or MRI…

Individuals with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) have significantly higher concentrations of specific inflammation biomarkers in their spinal fluid than healthy people, an exploratory study shows. For most biomarkers, levels in PPMS patients were comparable to or lower than those seen in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).

An international panel is calling for new methods to classify multiple sclerosis (MS) that reflect the disease’s underlying biology, rather than differences in clinical presentation. The approach would fundamentally change how patients, clinicians, and other stakeholders understand and describe the disease, but would enable the development of biologically based…

Using a new approach to track signals traveling between different brain regions, researchers found that these signals are slower in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), even in regions with no apparent disease-related damage, a new study reports. The approach may help complement MRI findings to determine the extent of…

Insurer Fountain Health now will fully cover Combinostics’ artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools to support the early detection, differential diagnosis, and prediction of progression in patients with neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The decision to cover the company’s cloud-based AI platforms, cMRI and cDSI,…

In the years after a diagnosis of clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) — a first episode of neurological symptoms suggestive of multiple sclerosis (MS) — the odds of maintaining employment progressively decrease, according to a recent study. The risk of decreasing or losing employment was particularly high among individuals…

A new tool that analyzes gait, or walking patterns, of people on a treadmill — using video recordings from a simple digital camera — is able to accurately identify those with multiple sclerosis (MS), a study showed. Scientists said the gait-analysis tool may be a low-cost and easy-to-use way…

There are moments in life that have surprising effects on us. I’ve had two. The first was when I was about 9, and my mother informed me that my headmaster had been told I’d disappeared after school. Fair enough in hindsight. I presume she’d phoned the police as well, but…

A novel tracer designed to detect myelin loss in PET scans — imaging tests that use a radioactive substance, called a tracer, to look for disease in the body — showed a good safety profile in a small first-in-human study. Scientists say this new tracer could potentially help in evaluating…

Combining blood and imaging biomarkers might help clinicians better predict cognitive impairment in people with early multiple sclerosis (MS) than using either one alone, a new study suggests. Researchers found that using the two together worked better to predict information processing speed than did either blood or MRI biomarkers…

Epstein-Barr Virus and MS Risk: New Link to Mono Found in Study Add this study to the mounting evidence that there’s some type of association between the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) — the virus associated with mononucleosis — and multiple sclerosis. I’ve never had mono, but several people with…

It’s been a year and a half since I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). I still have use of my limbs and am able to walk, albeit shakily, without a walker. My eyesight has not been affected, I drive, and am able to carry on a…

A data-driven algorithm may be useful for defining the sometimes unclear transition from relapsing-remitting (RRMS) to secondary progressive (SPMS) forms of multiple sclerosis, a study found. The study, “Towards a validated definition of the clinical transition to secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: A study from the Italian MS Register,”…

A machine learning approach based on eye scans was employed by researchers to diagnose multiple sclerosis (MS) in children with up to 80% accuracy. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans also provided enough data to diagnose other demyelinating diseases with 75% accuracy. OCT is an imaging tool that uses…

Researchers have identified early factors that can affect the trajectory of a patient’s long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after a multiple sclerosis diagnosis. These factors include older age, worse physical impairment, and more severe fatigue at diagnosis, which were predictive of worse long-term physical HRQoL. In addition,…

The first symptoms of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) have been appearing increasingly later in life, according to a Spanish study covering nearly five decades. From the 1970s through the 2010s, the average age at disease onset rose by more than 10 years in both men and women, its researchers…

In this installment of our “Expert Voices” series, Multiple Sclerosis News Today asked Tanuja Chitnis, MD, to answer some of your questions about pediatric multiple sclerosis (MS). Chitnis is a board-certified neurologist specializing in multiple sclerosis-related neuroimmunological disorders. Chitnis’s interest in children with MS led her to create…

A team of researchers has created a three-dimensional (3D) map of the lymphatic vessels that drain the brain, and demonstrated that these vessels are organized similarly in mice and in humans. The researchers propose measuring these vessels using MRI scans could “allow longitudinal imaging of disease progression that may be…

If I were a superhero (or a supervillain, for that matter), I’d have an origin story. As it stands, I’m not even a minor hero in real life, and only a mediocre one when appearing in my own stories. I’m just a guy with multiple sclerosis, and all I…

The other night I dreamed I was standing in a military formation when my leg began to twitch with an MS spasm. I couldn’t stay in line. The top sergeant yelled while the other soldiers laughed. Suddenly, the scene shifted to a balance beam, where I desperately tried to…

Labcorp has launched a widely accessible test that measures the levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a biomarker of nerve damage, to screen for signs of neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The test is performed on a standard blood sample taken at a hospital, at the…

The presence of iron rim lesions (IRLs), which are regions of chronic nervous system damage with ongoing inflammation, visible on MRI scans, is linked with more substantial disability in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study. However, the connection between these lesions and worse disability does not…

On Feb. 28, 2021, my wife and I visited the MS clinic where I was diagnosed with primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS). After receiving this life-changing news, I was an emotional wreck. While touring the clinic, I saw a person in a wheelchair go into an exam room.

Some prodromal symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS) — symptoms that are evident before the disease begins in earnest — could help to predict the course of MS, a new study proposes. In particular, its researchers suggest that MS patients with prodromal depression are more likely to be diagnosed…

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in England has updated its guidelines for the diagnosis and management of adults with multiple sclerosis (MS). Called Multiple sclerosis in adults: management, the new guidelines update and replace the 2014 recommendations and are meant to be followed by…

When I turned 50 in 2013, I blew out the candles, and bam! I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I started seeing an endocrinologist and a neurologist, taking daily diabetic medications, and testing my blood sugar every day. At that point, I was not physically disabled in any…