Easy Eye Scan Can Detect Level of Brain Damage in MS Patients

An inexpensive, five-minute eye scan can accurately assess the amount of brain damage in patients suffering from the autoimmune disorder multiple sclerosis (MS) and provide clues to how quickly the disease is progressing — that’s according to two new studies out of Johns Hopkins University.

“The eye is the window into the brain, and by measuring how healthy the eye is, we can determine how healthy the rest of the brain is,” says Peter A. Calabresi, MD, a professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the studies described in recent issues of The Lancet Neurology and Archives of Neurology. “Eye scans are not that expensive, are really safe and are widely used in ophthalmology, and now that we have evidence of their predictive value in MS, we think they are ready for prime time. We should be using this new quantitative tool to learn more about disease progression, including nerve damage and brain atrophy.” For more information, click here to read the full release.