MRIs Are Critical to Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis

MRIs are Critical to Assessment of Multiple Sclerosis

NeuroRx Research provides professional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study management for multiple sclerosis (MS) research. Pharmaceutical companies rely on NeuroRx Research services during clinical trials of new drugs. MRIs are essential to the diagnosis and analysis of the effects of drugs on MS since MRIs show the brain lesions caused by the condition. To diagnose MS, physicians need objective observation of more than one lesion developing at different times. In MS, lesions typically appear in the corpus collosum, temporal lobes, brain stem, U-fibers, or spinal cord. This distribution of lesions is not common in other conditions. Also, specific lesions called juxtacortial lesions only occur in MS. Juxtacortial lesions are next to, and must contact, the cortex. The appearance of new lesions over time is typical of MS. Most of these lesions do not produce symptoms. Thus, MRI is more sensitive than clinical symptoms for assessing the effectiveness of drug therapies designed to suppress the development of new lesions and associated clinical relapses.

Performing scans to assess MS activity on MRI requires special scanning procedures. NeuroRx trains MRI facilities to do these, and then collects and analyzes the scans.