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A quick, painless eye measurement shows promise as a way to diagnose multiple sclerosis in its very early stages, and to track the effectiveness of treatments, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in a multicenter study.

"This technique has the potential to provide a powerful and reliable assessment strategy to measure structural changes in the central nervous system, both for diagnostic purposes and in clinical trials to monitor whether potential treatments can prevent deterioration or restore nerve function," said Dr. Elliot Frohman, professor of neurology and ophthalmology, director of the Multiple Sclerosis Clinical Center at UT Southwestern and co-senior author of the study, which appears in the June issue of Annals of Neurology.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/1796

OCT machines already are available. Patients look into a device similar to those that measure vision for corrective lenses. Near-infrared light, which is invisible to the eye, penetrates the retina and provides information on its thickness. The measurement takes a few seconds for each eye.

I had an OCT about a year ago following a preliminary study posted here saying it appeared to be an apparently good measure of progressive nerve damage in the CNS, when compared to MRI. These machines are not only "available" but are in ophthalmologists offices NOW.

I will be interested to see how I go on my next test. Actually, I just checked and the last test was done 13 mar 2009, so any time now would be a good time for a follow up test. It was a lot less involved than an MRI, and was cheaper than an MRI (Australian std healthcare can cover normal MRI's, while there was a small component of the OCT that I had to cover)

I think its a good check for me in particular, as I do not have any noticeable vision issues, mainly ambulatory.

I was within the normal range for most of the graph. I had a 69um average thickness for my left, and 70um for my right, with 88% Symmetry.