{"id":1060,"date":"2016-11-18T04:32:34","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T04:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edrugstore.md\/blog\/?p=1060"},"modified":"2011-11-18T04:32:34","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T04:32:34","slug":"a-new-test-ms-l1117","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edrugstore.com\/blog\/current-health-news\/a-new-test-ms-l1117\/","title":{"rendered":"A new test to track multiple sclerosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A group of scientists believe an eye scan may help doctors track the progress of a debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis.\u00a0 Right now costly tests are used to monitor this disease.\u00a0 Researchers believe this new discovery could help patients and save thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

What is multiple sclerosis, or MS?<\/strong>
\nMS is caused by damage to the myelin sheath, the protective covering that surrounds nerve cells. When this nerve covering is damaged, nerve impulses are slowed down or stopped.\u00a0 It causes severe pain and inflammation, vision problems and twitching.<\/p>\n

There is no cure for the disease, but there are treatments to control and manage the symptoms.\u00a0 Approximately 400,000 people in the United States have MS.<\/p>\n

The new discovery<\/strong>
\nA Johns Hopkins-based study of a group of 40 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients used a process called optical coherence tomography (OCT) to scan the layers of nerve fibers of the retina.\u00a0 By measuring the thickness of the optic nerve doctors believe they can judge the progression of MS.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cThis is an encouraging result,\u201d says Johns Hopkins neurologist Peter Calabresi, M.D., lead author of the study, which appears in Neurology.<\/em> \u201cMRIs, the current method to monitor MS, is an imperfect tool that measures the result of many types of tissue loss rather than specifically nerve damage itself. With this new eye scan we can see exactly how healthy these nerves are, potentially in advance of other symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, says Calabresi, OCT scans take roughly one-tenth as long and cost one-tenth as much as the MRI.<\/p>\n

A new hope<\/strong>
\nAside from helping those battling MS, researchers believe this eye scan could help doctors detect the disease sooner.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreatments for MS cannot reverse the damage but they can arrest it, so the earlier we get someone on medication the quicker we can stop the disease from causing more harm.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A group of scientists believe an eye scan may help doctors track the progress of a debilitating disease, multiple sclerosis.\u00a0 Right now costly tests are used to monitor this disease.\u00a0 Researchers believe this new discovery could help patients and save thousands of dollars. What is multiple sclerosis, or MS? MS is caused by damage to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_autoblog_aioseo_focus_keyphrase":"","_autoblog_aioseo_title":"","_autoblog_aioseo_description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-health-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t