Cognition in Multiple Sclerosis: a longitudinal study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The relation of cognition to cerebellar function in Multiple Sclerosis.
IRAS ID
224861
Contact name
Jack Cahill
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Royal Holloway, University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 5 months, 28 days
Research summary
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. Many clinical symptoms of MS arise from lesions (scarring) within the cerebellum and associated areas. The cerebellum is an area of the brain that plays a role in the execution of movement, including motor planning and balance. The cerebellum is also the part of the brain that is thought to manage more automatic, routine tasks. This has been well established regarding motor functions and increasingly for cognitive functions such as attention and remembering. The cerebellum is often involved in MS as the disease often has a bias for the cerebellum. Some MS patients have symptoms that are related to cerebellar damage, such as tremor and poor motor co-ordination and balance. MS patients with cerebellar symptoms are more disabled and do less well in rehabilitation. Recently, studies have shown that MS patients with cerebellar symptoms have a different cognitive profile to those without cerebellar symptoms. Building on a previous project (ID – 196840), this project aims to understand the longitudinal relation of changes in cognitive status and cerebellar symptoms by comparing performance in neuropsychological tests between individuals with relapsing-remitting MS with cerebellar symptoms (RR-MSc), relapsing-remitting MS without cerebellar symptoms (RR-MSnc) and healthy controls.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - South Yorkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/YH/0321
Date of REC Opinion
14 Sep 2017
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion