|
The Neuro Center's physician newsletter. Click here to go to Neurogram's home page. The James Q. Miller Consultative Multiple Sclerosis Clinic The Department of Neurology at the University of Virginia is proud to announce the opening of our multiple sclerosis clinic, named in honor of James Q. Miller, M.D. for his lifetime professional commitment to the care of individuals with MS. The clinic opened its doors officially in January 2001. It offers a multidisciplinary consultative service for patients with multiple sclerosis and related diseases. Here, comprehensive neurological evaluation is offered in conjunction with other in-house services such as physical and occupational therapy, speech pathology assessment, neurocongitive evaluation, and the educational and community services of the Blue Ridge Multiple Sclerosis Society. Referrals to UVa-affiliated social services and other subspecialities such as Neuro-ophthalmology and Urology are also offered. The mission of the developing clinic is to provide the full range of multidisciplinary care as well as second opinion evaluation and comprehensive assessment. The primary focus will be to provide treatment recommendations to referring practitioners. Clinic staff is particularly interested in seeing patients willing to participate in future clinical research and drug trials. We are also in the process of establishing a database fore this purpose and hope to partner with the National Institutes of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in future studies. Our immediate interests include studies of cognitive changes in MS - including studies on endocrinologic influences and gender differences - and outcome analyses of the progression of the disease as verified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopic analysis techniques. Recruitment for specific studies will be advertised in Neurogram and elsewhere. Although not a necessity, our service is optimized if we have referral information and MRI films for our review at least 48 hours ahead of the appointment. Our capacity will expand to meet the needs of patients and referring physicians. Our goal is to provide a broad range of services in a convenient location and timely manner to assist local physicians in providing optimal care for their patients with MS.
|
