vision

The road to my MS diagnosis started through the eyes

I was sitting in an introductory biology class during the second semester of my freshman year in high school when things started going downhill. The teacher was presenting a lesson about the functions of plants, or something in that realm that I donā€™t remember. I sat in the back row,…

Remembering My First MS Symptom

What was your first MS symptom? Mine ā€” the one that made me realize something was really wrong ā€” was my inability to squeeze the toothpaste tube with my left hand one morning. Of course, there were earlier hints of trouble. I was unusually tired while attending a business…

#ACTRIMS2018 – Relapsing MS Patients With Impaired Vision Improved on Ocrevus, Updated Trial Data Show

Ocrevus improved vision among relapsing multiple sclerosis patients who participated in the Phase 3 clinical trials of the treatment, according to updated analyses recently presented at the ACTRIMSĀ Forum 2018. While Ocrevus-treated patients improved their ability to read low-contrast letters over the course of the two trials, people who received Rebif (interferon beta-1a) did not. Laura J. Balcer, a neurologist at New York University Langone Medical Center, shared the data in a presentation titled, ā€œEffect of Ocrelizumab on Visual Outcomes in Patients with Baseline Visual Impairment in the OPERA Studies in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis.ā€ Balcer had earlier shared data on the visual outcomes of relapsing patients in the OPERA I and OPERA II Phase 3 clinical trials of Ocrevus at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris, last year. The two studies ā€”Ā sponsored by Ocrevus developer Genentech, a member of the Roche group ā€” Ā compared Ocrevus and Rebif in patients with relapsing MS. This time, her presentation focused only on patients who had visual impairment when they enrolled in the trials. Among a total of 1,656 participants, 375 of those treated with Ocrevus and 373 in the Rebif group had visual impairment. Researchers tested vision using a low-contrast letter acuity test. The test is similar to an ordinary vision test, with letters of different sizes on a chart. But the low-contrast test uses gray lettersĀ ā€” instead of black ā€” on a white background. Researchers included charts with two shades of gray to test different contrast levels. These tests can detect reduced visual function. At the beginning of the trials, both groups performed in a similar manner ā€”Ā correctly identifying about 35 letters on a chart with somewhat higher contrast. After 96 weeks, those receiving Ocrevus identified on average 3.4 more letters, while Rebif-treated patients worsened by 0.5 letters ā€” a significant difference, Balcer said. Researchers tested vision every 12 weeks. At the end of the trials, they found that 39 percent more patients in the Ocrevus groups had a cumulative improvement of at least 10 letters, compared to those treated with Rebif. At this time, 26.4 percent of Ocrevus-treated patients improved 10 letters or more, compared to 19.8 percent in the Rebif group. The difference between the groups for at least seven letters was 54 percent, with Ocrevus-treated patients performing better. Researchers believe that a seven-letter change is the minimal clinically important difference for the test. Based on the results, researchers believe that the findings demonstrate Ocrevusā€™ ability to reverse visual impairment in relapsing MS. The ACTRIMS Forum 2018 isĀ being held in San Diego, California, Feb. 1ā€“3.

#MSParis2017 – Ocrevus Improves Relapsing MS Patients’ Vision Better Than Interferon, Trials Show

Genentech’sĀ Ocrevus (ocrelizumab) improved the vision of people with relapsing multiple sclerosis better than the widely used therapyĀ interferon beta-1a, according to clinical trial findings presented at the 7th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting in Paris. Dr. Laura Balcer of the department of neurology atĀ New York UniversityĀ made the presentation, titledĀ ā€œEffect…

Optic Neuritis in MS So Difficult To See

Optic neuritis is one of the symptoms of which those of us who live with multiple sclerosis on a daily basis know can set us apart from others. We are fully, and often painfully, aware that everyone is different. We all experience a different array of symptoms to similarly different…