Using a high-tech imaging process to measure the thickness of the eye's retina may one day predict the progression of multiple sclerosis, a new study suggests.
The finding might lead to better ways to judge the effectiveness of treatments because different parts of the retina seem to indicate different aspects of the disease and the toll it takes on different parts of the brain, the researchers said.
The report was published online Oct. 1 in the Archives of Neurology.
Multiple sclerosis is thought to be an autoimmune disease that attacks the central nervous system, which consists of the brain, the spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms range from mild effects, such as numbness in the limbs, to severe, such as paralysis or blindness.
"In treating multiple sclerosis we have been tremendously successful in reducing the number of attacks," said Dr. Ari Green, assistant clinical director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of an accompanying editorial in the journal.
That's the inflammatory part of the disease, Green explained. "We are very successful at treating inflammation in multiple sclerosis. We are less successful in being able to treat or reverse disability," he said.... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/2479
