Key is conducting the trial in conjunction with MUSC's Clinical Innovation Group, which designs the study, centrally manages the research at each institution, and collects and evaluates data. Each site has a designated clinical principal investigator for the study site. This research has gone through rigorous peer review, and the results were published in scientific journals. Based on those results, our own faculty members with expertise in clinical research have developed a national clinical trial to test the laboratory findings on patients who would likely benefit. Multiple sclerosis usually begins in early adulthood with symptoms varying in severity and duration.
Remissions are common in early stages of the disease.
Blurred or double vision, inflammation of the optic nerve, muscle weakness and dizziness are some of the initial symptoms. In later stages, patients may endure paralysis, blindness and incontinence. Some 350,000 people in the United States have multiple sclerosis. In multiple sclerosis, inflammatory cells enter the brain and start activating brain cells to produce a variety of toxins that damage myelin sheaths that surrounds nerves. This may prevent the transmission of messages between the brain and the rest of the body.