According to a recently published study, relatives of patients with MS have a higher risk of developing MS than the general population. The study to evaluate risk involved 30 relatives of patients at the Department of Neurology, Medical Academy in Lodz, Poland, and the Department of Neuroscience, Scientific Institute and University Ospedale San Raffaele, in Milan, Italy.

Half of those in the study had relatives with familial MS, meaning at least two family members were diagnosed with MS. The other half were relatives of patients with sporadic MS, meaning in a given family there was a single individual affected by clinically definite MS. All the relatives in the study had no previous history of neurologic deficits and had a normal neurologic examination.

The study showed that subtle, normal appearing brain tissue changes were observed in asymptomatic first-degree relatives of patients with familial and sporadic MS. These changes were not detected using conventional MRI, but an alternative test using magnetization transfer imaging. Although conventional MRI can detect focal MS lesions, it is unable to detect these more subtle changes. Using magnetization transfer imaging, physicians can do a more complete assessment of normal appearing brain tissue damage. (www.newswise.com)

This entry was posted on Monday, July 15th, 2002 at 12:45 pm and is filed under All Articles, Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.