August 22, 2022 Columns by Ed Tobias MS News That Caught My Eye Last Week: PBA, Pregnancy, Interferon-beta, Pediatric MS Test Early Detection of Pseudobulbar Affect May Help Ease MS Symptom I often see posts on social media from people with MS asking if crying for no reason is an MS symptom, because it happens to them. I didn’t know that apparently, it is. Laughing, too. This report says…
August 18, 2022 News by Margarida Maia, PhD Eye Scans May Help to Diagnose MS in Children 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…
April 20, 2022 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD New Imaging Techniques May Aid MS Diagnosis, Management Physician-researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in California, are developing brain and eye imaging techniques to improve the diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is characterized by the progressive loss of myelin, the fatty protective sheath around nerve fibers, in the brain and spinal cord due to abnormal…
December 13, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Imaging of Retina Can Help in Monitoring Nerve Cell Damage in MS An imaging technique called optical coherence tomography (OCT) could be useful for monitoring nervous system damage in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), especially early on in the disease, a study in patients reports. The study, “Optical coherence tomography in multiple sclerosis: A 3-year prospective multicenter study,”…
September 2, 2021 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Combo of Biomarkers Predict Future Disease Activity In people with early-stage multiple sclerosis (MS), the presence of high levels of neurofilament light chain (sNfL) protein in the bloodstream combined with thinning of the retina is a strong indicator of future disease activity, a recent study demonstrates. āOur findings encourage the application of both sNfL and retinal…
July 8, 2021 News by Patricia Inacio, PhD Ibudilast, Potential Progressive MS Therapy, Awaits US Patent MediciNovaĀ announced that it will be given a U.S. patent covering the use of ibudilastĀ (MN-166) in treating eye disease. This oral medication aims to lessen inflammation, including that of progressiveĀ multiple sclerosis (MS). Specifically, it will cover ibudilast’s use in Ā treating injury or damage to the macula ā…
April 9, 2021 News by Vanda Pinto, PhD Retinal Layer Thickness May Predict MS Progression, Relapses Measurements of the thickness of the eye’s retina ā the layer of nerve cells lining the back of the eye ā could be used to predict disability progression and relapses in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), a real-world study from Austria suggests. āOur study shows that both crossectional and…
February 25, 2021 News by Marisa Wexler, MS #ACTRIMS2021 – Better Strategies Needed to Help Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Patients Editor’s note: TheĀ Multiple Sclerosis News Today news team is providing in-depth and unparalleled coverage of the virtual ACTRIMS Forum 2021, Feb. 25-27. Go here to see all the latest stories from the conference. People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who are less socioeconomically advantaged tend to have faster rates…
November 12, 2020 News by Forest Ray PhD Non-invasive Imaging Technique Reveals Ibudilast’s Neuroprotective Effect A non-invasive retina imaging technique known as optical coherence tomography (OCT) provided evidence of the neuroprotective effect of ibudilastĀ (MN-166) ā an oral medication designed to reduce the body’s inflammatory responses āĀ in people with progressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). The data also…
September 15, 2020 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD #MSVirtual2020 – High-efficacy DMTs More Effective at Slowing Retina Atrophy in RRMS Patients, Study Finds Compared to low-efficacyĀ disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), high-efficacy medications are more effective at slowing the loss of nerve cells making up different layers of the retina ā the region at the back of the eye that enables one to see ā in patients with relapsing-remitting…
August 12, 2020 News by Steve Bryson, PhD Inflammation Drives Nerve Damage in Early MS, Imaging Study Shows Inflammation drives the loss of brain volume and thinning of the eye’s retina in the first five years of aĀ multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis, an imaging study demonstrates.Ā The findings support a therapeutic strategy of halting inflammatory activity during this initial period.Ā …
July 21, 2020 News by Joana Carvalho, PhD Retina Thickness Can Be Used to Identify MS Patients with Progressive Disease, Study Suggests The thickness of two layers of nerve cells forming the back of the eye, or retina, can be used to distinguish patients with progressing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) from those with stable disease, a study suggests. The study, āMacular ganglion cellāinner plexiform layer…
May 14, 2020 News by Marta Figueiredo, PhD Progressive MS Linked to Faster Retinal Atrophy, Study Shows People with progressive forms of multiple sclerosisĀ (MS) have faster and disease-modifying therapy (DMT)-resistant retinal atrophy (thinning), compared to those with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), a study shows. Data also highlighted that the thickness of deeper layers of the retina could be used as potential biomarkers of neurodegeneration in…
November 4, 2019 News by Ana Pena PhD Mutations in 3 Genes Linked to Vision Loss and MS Severity in Hopkins Study Mutations in genes related to the immune system’s first line of defense are associated with a greater likelihood of more severe forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) linked to faster vision loss, a team led by Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report. Combining high-resolution eye scans and genetic tests,…
August 19, 2019 News by Marisa Wexler, MS Imaging That Captures Damage to Brain in CIS Helps in Determining Likelihood of MS, Study Says Imaging techniques that measure damage to the brain, in addition to those that detect lesions, may be useful in predicting likely disease progression in people with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), a study found. The study, “Early imaging predictors of longer term multiple sclerosis risk and severity…
September 11, 2017 News by Alice MelĆ£o, MSc Structural Eye Neurodegeneration Common Among MS Patients with Optic Neuritis, Danish Study Finds Structural changes of the eye retina are a common feature among multiple sclerosis patients with a clinical history of optic neuritis, a Danish study finds. Loss of the myelin protective layer of optic nerve cells due to inflammation causes optic neuritis. About 20 percent of MS have it, and optic neuritis is a symptom of disease progression in about 40 percent of patients. In most cases, symptoms persist, leading to visual impairment or blindness, along with pain. Non-invasive optical coherence tomography can help evaluate neurodegeneration of optic nerve cells. This imaging technique allows a three-dimensional evaluation of internal eye structures, including the thickness of the retina nerve fiber layer. Previous studies have shown that MS patients may present progressive RNFL loss, but this can also be caused by optic neuritis. The use of OCT has been proposed to distinguish MS subtypes and evaluate disease activity. However, little clinical data is available to validate OCT's accuracy and potential as a diagnostic tool. To find out more, a Danish research team conducted a long-term evaluation of structural and functional visual outcomes in MS patients with and without a history of optic neuritis. Researchers observed that patients with a history of optic neuritis had significantly more RNFL thickness loss than those without optic neuritis. They linked reduced RNFL thickness with a 1.56 times higher risk of optic neuritis development. Nevertheless, the team did not find any association between optic neuritis and functional impairment of visual acuity or color vision. Use of high-resolution OCT devices coupled with up-do-date analysis software can improve the diagnostic efficacy of this imaging technique in MS patients, said researchers, who urged more studies to address the relevance of structural changes in MS.
September 16, 2016 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #ECTRIMS2016 – Eye Imaging Tools May Help Predict 5- or 10-Year MS Disability Two presentations at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) 2016 Congress,Ā now underwayĀ in London, underscored the value of measures of neurodegeneration in the eye in predicting a patient’s futureĀ disability. Peter Calabresi with theĀ Johns Hopkins School of MedicineĀ opened the session with the presentation,Ā āTools for…
September 14, 2016 News by Patricia Silva, PhD #ECTRIMS2016 – Eye Imaging, Genetics Link Immune Complement Factors to MS Progression Genes that encode what are called “complement” immune factors are linked to the breakdown of the retina in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients ā a measure that, in turn, predicts brain damage and loss of eyesight. The study, a joint effort between researchers from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,…
June 3, 2016 News by InĆŖs Martins, PhD #CMSC16 – Visual Assessment May Provide Information on Cognitive Function in MS Patients Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found that visual function in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients correlates with cognitive function ands suggests that disease severity and outcomes of neuroprotective therapies in MS patients may be assessed through visual function measurements. The findings were recently presentedĀ in the oral presentation “…
November 2, 2015 News by Patricia Silva, PhD OCT Collaborators Win 2015 Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research A collective team of physician-researchers comprising Dr. Peter Calabresi from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Dr. Laura Balcer from NYU Langone Medical Center, and Dr. Elliot Frohman from University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine areĀ the winners of the 2015 Barancik Prize for Innovation…
September 11, 2015 News by Malika Ammam, PhD Researchers Find OCT Imaging Technique a Reliable Tool for Multiple Sclerosis Assessment In a newly published study in the PLOS One journal entitled “Reliability of Intra-Retinal Layer Thickness Estimates“, researchers from Germany explored the precision and reliability of a medical imaging technique named optical coherence tomography (OCT) in measurements of thickness of different intra-retinal layers in…