Martínez-Lapiscina Elena H, Fraga-Pumar Elena, Gabilondo Iñigo, Martínez-Heras Eloy, Torres-Torres Ruben, Ortiz-Pérez Santiago, Llufriu Sara, Tercero Ana, Andorra Magi, Roca Marc Figueras, Lampert Erika, Zubizarreta Irati, Saiz Albert, Sanchez-Dalmau Bernardo, Villoslada Pablo
Center of Neuroimmunology, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS) - Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Casanova 145, Planta 3A, 08036 Barcelona, Spain.
BMC Res Notes. 2014 Dec 15;7:910. doi: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-910.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated disease of the Central Nervous System with two major underlying etiopathogenic processes: inflammation and neurodegeneration. The latter determines the prognosis of this disease. MS is the main cause of non-traumatic disability in middle-aged populations.
The MS-VisualPath Cohort was set up to study the neurodegenerative component of MS using advanced imaging techniques by focusing on analysis of the visual pathway in a middle-aged MS population in Barcelona, Spain. We started the recruitment of patients in the early phase of MS in 2010 and it remains permanently open. All patients undergo a complete neurological and ophthalmological examination including measurements of physical and disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale; Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite and neuropsychological tests), disease activity (relapses) and visual function testing (visual acuity, color vision and visual field). The MS-VisualPath protocol also assesses the presence of anxiety and depressive symptoms (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), general quality of life (SF-36) and visual quality of life (25-Item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire with the 10-Item Neuro-Ophthalmic Supplement). In addition, the imaging protocol includes both retinal (Optical Coherence Tomography and Wide-Field Fundus Imaging) and brain imaging (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). Finally, multifocal Visual Evoked Potentials are used to perform neurophysiological assessment of the visual pathway.
The analysis of the visual pathway with advance imaging and electrophysilogical tools in parallel with clinical information will provide significant and new knowledge regarding neurodegeneration in MS and provide new clinical and imaging biomarkers to help monitor disease progression in these patients.
多发性硬化症（MS）是一种中枢神经系统的免疫介导疾病，有两个主要的潜在病因发病过程：炎症和神经退行性变。后者决定了这种疾病的预后。MS是中年人群非创伤性残疾的主要原因。
MS-VisualPath队列研究旨在通过聚焦于西班牙巴塞罗那中年MS人群的视觉通路分析，使用先进成像技术研究MS的神经退行性成分。我们于2010年在MS的早期阶段开始招募患者，并且该队列研究一直开放。所有患者均接受全面的神经和眼科检查，包括身体和残疾测量（扩展残疾状态量表；多发性硬化症功能综合评分和神经心理测试）、疾病活动（复发）和视觉功能测试（视力、色觉和视野）。MS-VisualPath方案还评估焦虑和抑郁症状的存在情况（医院焦虑抑郁量表）、总体生活质量（SF-36）和视觉生活质量（25项国家眼科研究所视觉功能问卷及10项神经眼科补充问卷）。此外，成像方案包括视网膜成像（光学相干断层扫描和广角眼底成像）和脑成像（磁共振成像）。最后，多焦视觉诱发电位用于对视觉通路进行神经生理学评估。
使用先进的成像和电生理工具并结合临床信息对视觉通路进行分析，将为MS神经退行性变提供重要的新知识，并提供新的临床和成像生物标志物，以帮助监测这些患者的疾病进展。
