Short-term brain volume change in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: effect of glatiramer acetate and implications

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Glatiramer Acetate in the context of multiple sclerosis.

The assessment of brain volume change with serial MRI provides an objective measure of an important component of the pathology of multiple sclerosis.

Why It Was Studied

This study investigated the impact of GA treatment on the development of brain atrophy in RR multiple sclerosis patients.

The study consisted of a 9-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase followed by a 9-month open-label phase.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 113 patients were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, both men and women.

Using a semi-automated segmentation technique based on local thresholding, brain volume was measured from seven contiguous periventricular slices from the scans obtained at baseline, the end of the double-blind phase and the end of the study.

From the original trial cohort, image sets from 113 out of 119 patients randomized to GA, and 114 out of 120 randomized to placebo treatment were evaluated.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, open-label and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Glatiramer Acetate and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Glatiramer Acetate study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

Being open-label, the Glatiramer Acetate study did not mask who received what.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Glatiramer Acetate group a baseline to be compared against.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Atrophy, Brain, Glatiramer Acetate, Immunosuppressive Agents, Multiple Sclerosis, Relapsing-Remitting and Peptides.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and open-label study of Glatiramer Acetate in 113 patients in people with multiple sclerosis.

The publication is from 2001 (Brain : a journal of neurology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Glatiramer Acetate compound page, Multiple sclerosis research.