Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of FTY720 (fligolimod) in different dosages in the treatment of Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS), so as to provide references for clinical practice. Methods Such databases as MEDLINE, EMbase, The Cochrane Liabrary, CBM and CNKI were searched for collecting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of FTY720 in the treatment of RRMS, which were published from January 1, 2001 to December 31, 2010. The studies were retrieved and the data were extracted according to the predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria, the quality of included studies was evaluated with improved Jadad scale, and the Meta-analyses were performed with RevMan5.1 software. Results Three high quality RCTs were included. The Meta-analyses showed that: a) compared with the control group, orally taking FTY720 could obviously decreased the annualized relapse rate (OR=-6.67, 95%CI -10.75 to -2.60, P=0.001), the confirmed disability progression rate (OR=0.64, 95%CI 0.47 to 0.87, P=0.004), and the incidence rate of intensified lesion on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans (OR=0.28, 95%CI 0.21 to 0.37, Plt;0.00001); b) There was no significant difference (P=0.55) between the small dosage (0.5mg/d) group and the big dosage (1.25mg/d) group of FTY720; and c) The incidence of adverse events was significantly different among the 3 dosage groups (5mg/d, 1.25mg/d and 0.5mg/d), and the minimum dosage group (0.5mg/d) was safer than the other groups. Conclusion FTY720 is safe to treat RRMS, and it can obviously decrease the annualized relapse rate, confirmed disability progression rate and incidence rate of intense lesion on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans. There is no dosage-effect relationship found in treating RRMS with FTY720 in different dosages, but the 0.5mg/d FTY720 as the minimum dosage is the safest.
ObjectiveTo observe the features of the manifestations of fundus fluorescein angiography （FFA） in multiple sclerosis （MS） and their value in clinical diagnosis.MethodsThe clinical data of 42 patients (84 eyes) with MS diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were retrospectively analyzed. The clinical data included visual acuity, ocular fundus examined by direct ophthalmoscope after mydriasis, FFA, visual field, CSF，visual evoked potential (VEP) and MRI examination.ResultsIn 42 patients (84 eyes),the positive detectable rate of examination of direct ophthalmoscope, CSF, visual field, VEP, and MRI was 36.9%, 21.4%, 71.4%, and 83.3% respectively. Abnormal results of FFA were found in 44 eyes (52.38%), including papillitis in 4 eyes（4.76%）at the early stage with extended physiological scotoma and central scotoma; neuroretinitis in 7 eyes （8.33%）at the medium stage with central or para-central scotoma; optic atrophy in 33 eyes（39.29%） at the late stage with centripetal constriction and even tubular visual field. ConclusionThe main angiographic features of MS are papillitis, neuroretinitis and optic atrophy. The manifestations of FFA combined with the results of examination of CSF，visual field, VEP and MRI is helpful for comprehensive and exact diagnosis of MS.(Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis, 2005,21:300-302)
A multi-label based level set model for multiple sclerosis lesion segmentation is proposed based on the shape, position and other information of lesions from magnetic resonance image. First, fuzzy c-means model is applied to extract the initial lesion region. Second, an intensity prior information term and a label fusion term are constructed using intensity information of the initial lesion region, the above two terms are integrated into a region-based level set model. The final lesion segmentation is achieved by evolving the level set contour. The experimental results show that the proposed method can accurately and robustly extract brain lesions from magnetic resonance images. The proposed method helps to reduce the work of radiologists significantly, which is useful in clinical application.
Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are the gold standard for the design of clinical trials. Because of some practical difficulties, more and more researchers think that the appropriate use of non-randomized controlled trials may make up for the weakness of RCT and will achieve the same research purpose. Therefore, non-RCTs are also very important. Taking studies on multiple sclerosis for example, this article briefly introduces the significance of non-randomized contolled trials.
多发性硬化临床表现多样,其中大脑半球型多表现为精神症状、癫痫、偏瘫或感觉异常等,而以截瘫及排尿障碍为表现者少见。本文对表现为“脑性截瘫”的3 例MS患者的临床和MRI特点进行回顾分析,以此提高对于MS的认识水平。
Objective To study the regulations of visual evoked potential(VEP) changes in 30 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods VEP were performed in 30 MS patients,and the results were compared with normal subjects. Results The abnormality rate of VEP were 76.7%. 82.6% of patients with abnormal VEP showed clinical visual symptoms; 17.4% among those patients have no clinical visual symptoms. Conclusion The rate of VEP abnormal in MS patients is more high. It may help more in the diagnosis of MS.
Magnetic resonance (MR) images can be used to detect lesions in the brains of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). An automatic method is presented for segmentation of MS lesions using multispectral MR images in this paper. Firstly, a Pd-w image is subtracted from its corresponding T1-w images to get an image in which the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) is enhanced. Secondly, based on kernel fuzzy c-means clustering (KFCM) algorithm, the enhanced image and the corresponding T2-w image are segmented respectively to extract the CSF region and the CSF-MS lesions combinatoin region. A raw MS lesions image is obtained by subtracting the CSF region from CSF-MS region. Thirdly, based on applying median filter and thresholding to the raw image, the MS lesions were detected finally. Results were tested on BrainWeb images and evaluated with Dice similarity coefficient (DSC), sensitivity (Sens), specificity (Spec) and accuracy (Acc). The testing results were satisfactory.
ObjectiveTo conduct a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study to assess the bidirectional causal relationship between multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. MethodsWe performed two-sample bidirectional MR analysis using publicly available genome-wide association study (GWAS) data. The primary analysis method used was the inverse variance weighted (IVW) method, with MR-Egger weighted median as a supplementary analysis. Sensitivity analyses were conducted. ResultsIVW, weighted median, and weighted mode all supported a causal relationship between multiple sclerosis and an increased risk of ulcerative colitis (OR=1.07, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.13, P=0.018), while no association was found between multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease. Sensitivity analyses suggested that the study results were not affected by pleiotropy. ConclusionGenetic predisposition to multiple sclerosis is associated with an elevated risk of developing ulcerative colitis but not Crohn’s disease.