RCSI partnership with Irish medtech company announced on World MS Day New Irish research will explore the use of novel digital biomarkers in monitoring Multiple Sclerosis (MS), with the aim of providing greater objectivity in assessing the condition. The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has partnered with Dublin-based medtech firm Head Diagnostics on a clinical assessment of iTremor One, a handheld medical device that gives a rapid and non-invasive measure of ocular microtremor (OMT), a high frequency involuntary fixational eye movement that is believed to reflect activity in the brainstem. Previous studies have found that OMT changes in people with MS, as well as other neurological conditions, although the traditional approach to measuring this has been particularly invasive, limiting research.
The researchers believe that combining this measure with gait analysis may offer the potential to provide more comprehensive, accurate and real-time data on disease activity. “Exploring the potential of measuring patients’ microtremors of the eye and their gait as measures of MS progression offers a promising new direction in our management approach,” said Dr Lisa Costelloe of the RCSI, who will help lead the study. “The treatment options for MS patients have advanced dramatically in recent decades but the outcome measures we use in clinical practice do not capture all aspects of the disease, in particular early disease progression.
“This study marks a significant.
