Dr. Sylvie Destian spoke at this morning's Grand Rounds on the topic of 'Imaging of Multiple Sclerosis'. She is a neuroradiologist at SUNY Syracuse and will be associated with the new MRI facility on the 3rd floor. This talk focused primarily on specialized imaging techniques for the clinical evaluation of Multiple Sclerosis as well as techniques for MS research. She also discussed the various disorders which can appear similar to MS on MRI.
Please check out the center’s new Facebook page! Click “LIKE” on the IMSMP’s site page www.facebook.com/IMSMP and help support the battle against Multiple Sclerosis. You can also help spread the news of our page to friends and family by updating your status with a direct link to the page for others to see.
Here are some answers to common questions regarding our new stem cell trial. Our websites will have more infomration shortly on pages devoted to our stem cell work.
How did the trial get approved?
Dr. Ralph Benedict, Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Buffalo, spoke at Grand Rounds last week. The title of his talk was "Neuropsychological Impairment in MS: Brain MRI Metrics, Cognition and Personality Change". The talk was very informative and the discussion focused on ways to correlate cognitive dysfunction with a variety of MRI parameters.
Our third floor expansion plans are well under way!! We hope to have the MRI facility up and running after the New Year. For a preview, click on the link below, which leads to renditions provided by our architectural firm, Yoshihara McKee, who were also our original architects for the Center.
http://www.yoshiharamckee.com/PROJECTS/institutional/imsmp2.html
MSRCNY RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR GROUNDBREAKING STEM CELL TRIAL IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Landmark Study Targets Repair and Regeneration for MS Patients
New York, NY- November 21, 2011- The Multiple Sclerosis Research Center of New York (MSRCNY) and the International Cellular Medicine Society (ICMS) jointly announced today the ICMS Institutional Review Board’s (IRB) approval of the first study to use autologous brain-like or neural stem cells for multiple sclerosis.
The results of a small trial of a new medication called Ocrelizumab were recently published in the journal, The Lancet. Ocrelizumab is essentially the same as the currently available medication, Rituximab (although not FDA-approved for MS). Because of how it is made, however, Ocrelizumab may be better tolerated during the intravenous infusion. The effectivenss seems promising in this small study but there have also been significant safety concerns with this medication, including a death.
Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons that make progressive disease difficult to clinically study in a rigorous manner:
1. For one, there are poor animal models of progressive disease, which makes doing basic laboratory research challenging. Dr. Mueller in our lab is working on such an animal model.
I have to start by saying that every patient with MS is different so you really do need to speak to your doctor. Fingolimod (Gilenya) was approved about one year ago. There were some safety concerns in the trial including two fatal infections in a higher dose and multiple low-grade cancers in the currently available dose so we have been cautious about its use. However, no new safety concerns have arisen in the year since it has been on the market. The phase III trials for teriflunomide and...
Despite the unusual weather this weekend, we had a great patient symposium this year!!! We want to thank everyone that came out and participated. A special commendation to our symposium committee, especially Dr. Williams, for organizing this spectacular event. Over the next week or two, we will be posting questions and answers that came up during the event on the website as well as answers to some patient questions that we didn't have time for.
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