Background: The ‘normal appearing white matter’ in MS, i.e. the areas without visible lesions, is known to be diffusely abnormal using special MRI techniques.
Results: Using a new stronger high-field MRI the investigators identified numerous lesions that were not detectable in areas of ‘normal appearing white matter’ as seen using conventional MRI.
Conclusions: Focal MS lesions contribute to the abnormalities known to exist in the ‘normal appearing white matter’.
“This study shows that using better technology MS pathology is more widespread than what we can see using conventional MRI. This is not surprising as this has been known for decades from pathological studies; i.e. many more MS lesions are found using a microscope than can be seen with the naked eye.”
I would like someone to expose the greatest fraud in MS research – EAE and other mouse models that bear no resemblance to human MS. The $ millions spent over the decades on EA research and the complete failure to identify any effective treatments form this model is the biggest scandal / fraud – unfortunately no one is prepared to rock the boat and own up to this.
More bad news! Why does it always have to be worse than first believe!What does this mean for future treatments?Any thoguths on whether the stem cell trials announced today will help in the future?http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-14332206
Re: "Any thoguths on whether the stem cell trials announced today will help in the future?"Early days; the basic research in animal models and preliminary human studies are very promising. It will be interesting to see if stem cell therapy, as proposed in this is study, will be more effective and safer than Alemtuzumab treatment. I remain very optimistic about very early Alemtuzumab therapy (within 2 years of disease onset).