The Sussex charity that works for 6,000 people affected by Myalgic Encephalopathy(ME) or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome(CFS) across the county has welcomed important new research into the illness.
A STUDY by scientists at Stanford University School of Medicine has discovered differences in the brains of healthy people and people with ME.
Dr Michael Zeineh and Dr José Montoya compared brain images of 15 ME patients and 14 healthy volunteers.
Dr Zeineh said: “Using a trio of sophisticated imaging methodologies, we found that ME patients’ brains differ from those of healthy subjects in three distinct ways.”
The images revealed that compared to those of the healthy volunteers, the brains of ME patients consisted of:
• less white matter
• abnormality in nerve fibres in the right hemisphere
• the thickening of grey matter at the front and back of the brain.
Dr Montoya said: “This study was a start: it shows us where to look.”
Stanford University is now planning a substantially larger study, supported by the CFS Fund housed in the Stanford Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Diseases.
Sussex ME Society chairman, Colin Barton said: “This study is incredibly important as it could lead to greater understanding of the illness. If a diagnosis of ME can be made simpler by a brain scan, patients will be able to receive advice and treatment much earlier that was a topic discussed by doctors at our recent conference.”
During the Autumn, Hove Town Hall was packed with around 150 people with ME including many from the LGBT community along with NHS professionals from across the region when the Sussex ME Society staged it’s ME Practice & Research conference which was opened by Caroline Lucas MPfor Brighton Pavilion.
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