Die MultipleSclerosis is a serious diseasewith a fatal outcome. The treatment is very difficult for doctors, especially because the symptoms sometimes vary depending on the patient. Each of the four known forms of the disease indicates a specific course. Researchers in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Science at University College London, in collaboration with their colleagues in the Department of Psychology at King's College London, have developed new diagnostic methods using innovative AI technology and identified three new forms of the disease. They hope that this new division into three courses will help doctors treat patients better.
Multiple sclerosis: Artificial intelligence technology helps with diagnosis
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in which the so-called immunocompetent cells in the thymus attack the myellin sheaths. This disrupts the signals the brain sends to the body. The consequences are speech disorders, sensory disorders in the legs and arms and paralysis. Nowadays the disease is divided into four forms, but they do not relate to the biology of the disease and cannot help find a suitable therapy for the patient. A new AI technology enables researchers to recognize certain patterns in the brain.
During the study, the scientists examined more than 6,300 people and took high-resolution MRI images of each subject. The AI technology was used after the examination to evaluate and analyze the test results. The goal: to better assign the lesions in the brain and to find similarities in the MRI images of different patients. The team then divided the participants into three groups. Patients in each group were treated similarly.
The results of the study are promising. The researchers now hope to conduct another study and group the subjects according to the MRI scan results. They then want to test different therapy interventions to find out whether the therapy results will be similar for all subjects in the respective group.