Figuring out exactly what is wrong with your nervous system can feel impossible. When symptoms overlap, doctors often guess. This new approach uses artificial intelligence to look at blood cells and find patterns humans might miss.
Researchers looked at nearly 1,000 people. This group included 540 patients with Multiple Sclerosis, 221 with Neuromyelitis Optica, and 149 healthy volunteers. The artificial intelligence tested blood samples to see if it could spot early disease. It achieved a 74% score for diagnostic accuracy when comparing early Multiple Sclerosis to healthy people.
The tool also helped tell Multiple Sclerosis apart from Neuromyelitis Optica with 91% accuracy. It reached 79% accuracy for distinguishing between two types of Multiple Sclerosis progression. These numbers suggest the method has potential for diagnosis.
This was an observational study, meaning it shows a link but does not prove cause. The authors claim immediate impact, but external validation data is not included in this text. Researchers reported no safety issues because this is a test, not a treatment. Real-world results may differ.