United States: A hidden inflammation in any of the brain’s part of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients can be revealed by Advanced scanning techniques, as the study reported.
More about the study
According to reports by researchers, such as “smoldering” inflammation detected by positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans could prove life-saving, as explained when patients continue to decline, even if no decline is shown from the images of the brain.
The study findings were published in the journal Clinical Nuclear Medicine.
Dr. Tarun Singhal, the lead researcher, and an associate professor of neurology and director of the PET Imaging Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston said, “One of the perplexing challenges for clinicians treating patients with MS is after a certain amount of time, patients continue to get worse while their MRIs don’t change,” as US News reported.
What do the researchers find?
Scientists have been researching new brain imaging methods for the past eight years, enabling a clear view of microglia, the immune cells of the brain that used to be considered nonsensical, but now scientists do start to comprehend that they might be one reason for the development of MS.
This technique is fairly recent and consists of a dye which is capable of binding to the brain macroglia cells. The tracers in such PET scans do not remain still, but rather show the motion of the tissues and organs by their changed densities. These changes are monitored by the doctors who use this test.
The imaging of the deposition using PET scan has been similar to the method accepted by FDA and used to monitor amyloid beta protein formation in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients, according to the researchers.
Singhal and colleagues started the study after noticing patients being treated with the most effective MS therapies available had symptoms that continued to worsen.
Singhal said, “This is a new approach that is potentially going to be very helpful for the field, for research, and hopefully for clinical use,” as the US News reported.
Moreover, Dr. Rohit Bakshi the co-researcher and a neurologist with Brigham and Women’s, said, “This can affect cognition, movement, fine motor skills and other aspects of their life,” as the US News reported.
More about the method used in the study
The research team measured positron emission tomography (PET) scans in 22 MS patients and eight healthy people in the course of the study.
The scans of PET show the “smoldering” inflammation, which rewarm the brains of MS patients, causing further deterioration of the health condition, although it is not surmountable on an MRI scan.
Secondly, the brain injury documented by PET scans accompanied the type and severity of disabilities and possibly also the level of fatigue the patients experienced.
Scientists can learn also through evaluation of the scans which patients are being put on high-quality MS medications. The patients benefiting less from the chemo agent possessed greater pathology of their metastasis during PET scans.
Bakshi stated, “Our therapies are excellent in that we’ve definitely improved MS patients’ lives,” and, “There’s no doubt about that, but we’re still not at the finish line.”