Summer Fun!
Today I began my participation in a second PLS study, this one at Mass General in Boston, I live in NJ. Dr. Paganoni (pictured here with me) recently received the Virginia Sweeney Fellowship to study PLS from the SPF. MGH is one of a few facilities in the world to do a combined MRI-PET scan. They have been doing scans of healthy volunteers vs ALS patients for a number of years now. These scans produce ultra high definition of the brain images and they have seen inflammation in those patients with ALS. They believe this inflammation may be the cause and if they can eliminate or reduce it through medication they will be able to monitor it through these scans. MGH has received a grant to expand these scans to PLS and will be comparing the images vs the two previous groups. The study I volunteered to be a part of includes up to 5 (90 minute scans) over three years plus physical and mental examinations. I am the sixth PLS patient to participate with 3-4 more signed up. My wife and I drove up the night before and stayed at the LaQuinta Inn in Somerville, MA which was comfortable. MGH reimbursed us for our room and they give you $150 for each scan so that covered our expenses for our trip. The scans are done at their imaging center in Charlestown, MA which was 2 miles from the hotel. It's a beautiful facility and parking was easy and accessible. The total time today at the imaging center was 4 hours. If you are interested in participating, you can contact Paul Michael Cernasov 617-726-1880 or pcernasov@mclean.harvard.edu
