Melville Company Makes Multiple Sclerosis Breakthrough

Researchers at Melville’s Fonar Corporation are reporting findings that reveal a new possible cause of multiple sclerosis (MS).

The research shows that the basis of the autoimmune disease, which affects the brain and spinal cord, may be biomechanical and related to earlier trauma to the neck, which can result in obstruction of the flow of brain and spinal fluid.

The observations were made possible by use of the company’s upright scanning device, called the UPRIGHT® MRI, which allows an individual to simply walk in and be scanned. The machine scans the whole body in different positions such as lying down, standing, or bending rather than just on his/her back. The new images have resulted  into complete new clinical indications, particulary for the spine and joints.

“These new observations have uncovered biomechanical barriers that appear to give rise to multiple sclerosis, and, even more excitingly, these barriers may be therapeutically addressable," Dr. Raymond Damadian, lead researcher and president of FONAR, stated in a press release.

Approximately 400,000 Americans have MS, and every week about 200 people are diagnosed. The disease is also diagnosed in more than twice as many women as men.

Damadian’s studies reveal that since anatomic tubes within the brain produce large amounts of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), an obstruction may result in a build up of pressure within the ventricles, causing them to rupture and leak the fluid into the surrounding brain tissue. This leakage, he suggests, could be responsible for generating the brain lesions of multiple sclerosis.

Damadian and co-researcher, David Chu, discovered obstructions of the CSF flow in all eight patients in the study and, in seven out of eight patients, the obstruction was more pronounced when the patient was in the upright position. The UPRIGHT® MRI also revealed that these obstructions were the result of structural deformities of the cervical spine, induced by trauma earlier in life.

The complete study that led to the diagnostic breakthrough in multiple sclerosis can be accessed at the company website at: www.fonar.com/pdf/PCP41_damadian.pdf