Mom's Story, A Child Learns About MS

Mom's Story, A Child Learns About MS
Available on Amazon and www.marynickum.com

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Hearing Loss and MS

Hearing loss is an uncommon symptom of MS. About 6 percent of people who have MS complain of impaired hearing; hearing loss may take place during an acute exacerbation.
  • In very rare cases, hearing loss has been reported as the first symptom of the disease.
  • Deafness due to MS is exceedingly rare, and most acute episodes of hearing deficit caused by MS tend to improve.
Hearing loss is usually associated with other symptoms that suggest damage to the brainstem — the part of the nervous system that contains the nerves that help to control vision, hearing, balance and equilibrium.
Hearing deficits caused by MS are thought to be due to inflammation and/or scarring around the eighth cranial nerve (the auditory nerve) as it enters the brainstem, although plaques (abnormal areas that develop on nerves whose myelin has been destroyed) at other sites along the auditory pathways could also contribute to hearing problems.

Because hearing deficits are so uncommon in MS, people with MS who do develop hearing loss should have their hearing thoroughly evaluated to rule out other causes.

Finding an audiologist or speech-language therapist:

The American Academy of Audiology provides an online search tool to locate audiologists who are members of the Academy. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) provides an online search tool to locate certified speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and audiologists.
American Academy of Audiology
11480 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 220 Reston, VA 20191
Phone: 800-222-2336, website or email
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
2200 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850-3289
Phone: 800-638-8255, website

Monday, February 15, 2016

Study authors find brain lesion, taste problem link



A new study finds that the more lesions spotted on an MRI, the worse the taste function of the patient with multiple sclerosis. They also found that women did better men on taste measures.
The researchers, led by Richard Doty, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Smell and Taste Center, administered a standard taste test (sweet, sour, bitter, and salty) to 73 MS patients and 73 controls subjects, along with MRI of 52 brain regions known to be affected by MS in both groups. They found that the disease significantly influenced the ability to identify tastes, especially salty and sweet. Fifteen to 32 percent of MS patients – which is nearly twice as high as previous studies found – had taste scores below the 5th percentile of controls. What's more, taste scores were inversely correlated with lesion amounts and volumes in the large sectors of the frontal and temporal lobes, the higher regions of the brain, identified on the MRI.
Regardless of subject group, women outperformed men on taste measures, which mirrors what previous taste studies have found. It is likely because women have more taste papillae and taste buds than men, the researchers said.
"It appears that a sizable number of these patients exhibit taste deficits, more so than originally thought. This suggests that altered taste function, though less noticeable than changes in vision, is a relatively common feature in MS. Future studies investigating the relationship between taste and MS may help better diagnose and understand the disease, as well as better manage symptoms," Doty said.
The findings were reported in the Journal of Neurology.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

MRI Study Yields Clues to the Development of Primary-Progressive MS


Summary
  • In a study of 453 people described as having radiologically isolated syndrome (specific areas of damage on MRI scans with no accompanying symptoms), about 12% eventually developed primary-progressive MS. This mirrors the frequency of primary-progressive MS seen in other studies of people with MS.
  • Those who developed primary-progressive MS were more likely to be men, were significantly older, and were more likely to have MS-like lesions in the spinal cord compared to those who went on to develop clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) or relapsing-remitting MS.
  • This study provides a rare glimpse of a very early stage of disease even before progression begins, and provides additional evidence of the value of research into radiologically isolated syndrome. Finding a way to identify and track primary-progressive MS earlier may help to improve access to care for those who have it.
  • The team (Dr. Orhun Kantarci, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, and national and international collaborators) published their findings in Annals of Neurology (published online, December 29, 2015).
Background: Diagnosing MS can be challenging, and it often happens in stages. The term “clinically isolated syndrome” (CIS) is used to describe a first episode of neurologic symptoms  that lasts at least 24 hours and is caused by inflammation and demyelination in one or more sites in the brain and spinal cord. Individuals who experience a CIS may or may not go on to develop definite MS. However, clinical trials of specific disease-modifying therapies have led to approvals for their use to treat CIS.

Some people have specific, “clinically silent” lesions (areas of inflamed or damaged tissue) on MRI, meaning that they are experiencing no symptoms and only have imaging findings. There has been growing research on this phenomenon, called “radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS),” which like CIS may or may not go on to develop into definite MS. There is debate as to whether people with RIS would benefit from early treatment with disease-modifying therapies.

Primary-progressive multiple sclerosis is a relatively rare form of MS, with about 10% of all people with MS receiving this diagnosis. It is characterized by steady worsening of neurologic functioning, without any distinct relapses (also called attacks or exacerbations) or periods of remission.

The Study:  This team examined data from 453 people with RIS collected from 22 investigators in five countries; a database of 210 people with MS in Olmsted County, Minnesota; and a cohort of 754 people with progressive MS.

Of the 453 people with RIS, 128 (28%) went on to develop a first neurological event consistent with CIS or relapsing MS. Of these, 15 (11.7%) developed primary-progressive MS. Those who developed primary-progressive MS were more commonly men, and older at diagnosis by approximately 10 years, than the 113 people who developed CIS/MS. The frequency of primary-progressive MS and age comparisons were similar to those identified in other groups of MS. Of the 15 who went on to develop primary-progressive MS, 12 had MRI scans of the spinal cord, and all 12 had lesions in the spinal cord, compared with 64% of those who developed CIS/MS.

The team (Dr. Orhun Kantarci, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, and national and international collaborators) published their findings in Annals of Neurology (published online, December 29, 2015).

Conclusions: This study provides a rare glimpse of a very early stage of disease even before progression begins, and provides additional evidence of the value of research into radiologically isolated syndrome. Finding a way to identify and track primary-progressive MS earlier may help to improve access to care for those who have it.

Read more about primary-progressive MS