Retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness and macular volume (MV) can be measured in vivo using optical coherence tomography (OCT) providing a "window into the brain". RNFL and MV are promising biomarkers in neurological diseases. This study explores the potential of RNFL and MV to detect axonal abnormalities in vivo in schizophrenia and their correlations with clinical features.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: More than half of patients with multiple sclerosis have progressive disease characterised by accumulating disability. The absence of treatments for progressive multiple sclerosis represents a major unmet clinical need. On the basis of evidence that mesenchymal stem cells have a beneficial effect in acute and chronic animal models of multiple sclerosis, we aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of these cells as a potential neuroprotective treatment for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: No treatments are currently available that slow, stop, or reverse disease progression in established multiple sclerosis (MS). The Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Multiple Sclerosis (MSCIMS) trial tests the safety and feasibility of treatment with a candidate cell-based therapy, and will inform the wider challenge of designing early phase clinical trials to evaluate putative neuroprotective therapies in progressive MS. Illustrated by the MSCIMS trial protocol, we describe a novel methodology based on detailed assessment of the anterior visual pathway as a model of wider disease processes--the "sentinel lesion approach".
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To investigate the three-dimensional (3D) fast-recovery fast spin-echo accelerated (FRFSE-XL) sequence as a new application for measuring the intraorbital optic nerve (ION) mean cross-sectional area in vivo and to determine its value within a commonly used high resolution imaging protocol.
Materials And Methods: The entire ION was scanned in nine healthy volunteers (mean age 32 +/- 4 years) using the 3D FRFSE-XL sequence and a commonly used high resolution short-echo fast fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (sTE fFLAIR) sequence with identical slice locations at 1.5T.
The afferent visual pathway is commonly affected in MS. Assessment of the afferent visual pathway using clinical, imaging and electrophysiological methods not only provides insights into the pathophysiology of MS, but also provides a method of investigating potential therapeutic measures in MS. This review summarises the various assessment methods, in particular imaging techniques of the visual pathway.
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