A study of clinical and imaging correlates of ability in MS v1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A detailed study of clinical and imaging correlates of ability in Multiple Sclerosis
IRAS ID
193062
Contact name
Emma Tallantyre
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
It is thought that a minority (<20%) of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) do not accrue significant disability even after many years of disease. Yet a clinical definition for benign MS and the pathological explanation for this favourable prognosis remains uncertain. This project aims to combine detailed MRI techniques and comprehensive clinical assessment to determine whether "benign MS" truly exists and to explore the imaging correlates of clinical ability in MS. We will invite 60 individuals with MS and 20 healthy volunteers for a detailed clinical assessment. We will subsequently invite 40 of these individuals with MS and 10 healthy volunteers to have a multimodal MRI brain scan. We will acquire both clinical and imaging data using methods that examine individual, identifiable pathways within the brain. This will allow us to apply a novel, tract-specific approach to our clinical-radiological analysis. From these data we aim to infer the physiological processes underlying the preservation of clinical function in MS. Understanding these processes could inform on how we might employ therapeutic strategies to enhance intrinsic mechanisms of repair or neuroprotection in MS. We also hope to highlight candidate imaging markers for predicting a favourable clinical outcome in MS. .
REC name
Wales REC 2
REC reference
16/WA/0051
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion