Simple eye scan can reveal extent of Multiple Sclerosi

BBC ^ | 24 Dec 2012

[shove_it]

A simple eye test may offer a fast and easy way to monitor patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), medical experts say in the journal Neurology.

Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a scan that measures the thickness of the lining at the back of the eye - the retina.

It takes a few minutes per eye and can be performed in a doctor's surgery.

In a trial involving 164 people with MS, those with thinning of their retina had earlier and more active MS.

The team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine say larger trials with a long follow up are needed to judge how useful the test might be in everyday practice.

The latest study tracked the patients' disease progression over a two-year period...

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

Thanks for posting. Merry Christmas!

[Jack Hydrazine]

Minding your mitochondria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc

[memyselfandi59]

Interesting. Don’t know what will be accomplished by findings from the eye scan...or as to the course of the disease how that will change things. Since nobody knows how they’ll react to any given drug therapy, and nowadays with the newer therapies, the possibility of serious complications exist, it’s still a guessing game.

A fascinating link that shows a single MRI is just a snapshot in time of the brain of an MS patient...the lesions are constantly coming and going through the course of a year in these time lapse MRI sequences...interesting thing, the MS patient did not have a relapse or suffer any increase in symptoms.

http://www.msdiscovery.org/news/news_synthesis/322-more-meets-eye

And on a more discouraging note, from someone who’s shot up Betaseron for the past 9 years...it may slow down the number of exacerbations but does nothing to alter the progression of disability to EDSS 6.

http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1217239#RESULTS

In my many years with MS it seems that the next “big gun” to treat the disease is always just around the corner. However, once it appears on the scene, the disappointments are valid:. Tysabri and PML plus rebound once it’s stopped, Gilenya and heart problems, even sudden death.

At this point they’re still not sure what causes the disease or if we’re even dealing with the same disease when the course can be so different from patient to patient, type to type. Another interesting article from an MS blogger about diagnosis :

http://www.wheelchairkamikaze.com/2011/02/misdiagnosis-of-multiple-sclerosis-and.html

Richard Cohen says “Progressive diseases progress”...and Neil Cavuto says what he hates most about the disease is it not a “quid pro quo” disease, you just never know what’s going to happen...he says one day he can walk, but the next day he may not be able to get out of bed. So we keep on keeping on. I’m just disappointed they haven’t made more progress...and slightly jaded because why try to find a cause and cure when you can charge the patient/insurance $3K to $7K a month for the treatment (depending on which drug you take)...and everyone just crosses their fingers and hope it’s doing something

Thanks for posting the link.

[kabumpo]

There is a very humble substance that I have heard can help:
Bieler’s broth. It is made from zucchini, stringbeans and celery. It must be consumed every day to be effective.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

So is there any correlation of MS with blindness?

[baldisbeautiful]

My wife has been enduring MS for over 20 years and has been on many of the typical therapies (Avonex, Copaxone, IVIG) and, as you pointed out, the disease still progresses. She is about to start Abagio. Do you have any experience with that?

[baldisbeautiful]

My wife has been enduring MS for over 20 years and has been on many of the typical therapies (Avonex, Copaxone, IVIG) and, as you pointed out, the disease still progresses. She is about to start Abagio. Do you have any experience with that?

[montag813]

My wife has had MS for just under 1 year, and is treating herself solely with supplements. After he initial exacerbation, she has been feeling much better. Vitamin D (10k), Cal+Magnesium are key for staving off nerve problems and spasms. Methyl B12 (5k 2x per day) is critical for maintaining energy. She also swears by Myelin Sheath Support, and Rhodiola, Borage Oil, and Alpha Lipoaic Acid/COQ10.

[headstamp 2]

I have a friend with MS who is supplementing with Turmeric which is known to be an anti-inflammatory.

I use it too for my Ulcerative Colitis.

[memyselfandi59]

Sorry to hear about your wife’s progression. As far as Aubagio, I’ve only read threads about it on MS Forums. Here’s a thread where a poster does a pretty good job of summarizing what the drug’s about.

http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=121145&highlight=aubagio

My MS neuro told me to hold out for BG12...but then he left our MS center to head up the MS division of Genzyme that make Aubagio, so go figure.

I hope she does well on it, at least no more needles :)

[memyselfandi59]

You asked if there was any correlation of MS with blindness?

Many people with MS have eye problems. Optic neuritis is the most common, and is often a first sign that something’s not right. I have double vision, because I have a lesion in my brainstem but not on my optic nerve.

Neil Cavuto must have problems with his eyes, because I’ve heard him say his show would be going along just fine, then they’d come back from a commercial break and he’d be “blind” not able to read a thing (MS symptoms have a way of suddenly popping up at inopportune times.)

Here’s a webmd link..explains eye problems.

http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/guide/multiple-sclerosis-vision-problems

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Thanks.

I thought there might be when the article talked about thinning of the back wall of the eye.

[SuziQ]

At my last eye exam, I had a test called an “Optimap”. It’s a scan of the eyeball, and the eye Doc said that she’d been able to discern serious illnesses in some of her patients from her review of this test. She sent one man to his doctor, and it turned out he had cancer of some sort, which she’d seen suggestions of in the scan.