MRI and Neuroimaging Research Advisor to the Board

We are excited to welcome Dr Kiran Thapaliya (PhD) to our team. Kiran has accepted to be our Neuroimaging Research Advisor to the Board.

His expertise will strengthen the evidence on Neurological Abnormalities with ME-ICC. It will help us to create Clinical Pathway for ME and Neuroimaging protocol for clinicians.

Kiran is a Research Fellow working at National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED), Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Gold Coast campus. His research interest lies in developing new neuroimaging methods for the direct in vivo mapping of tissue microstructure like myelin/iron in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). His research focuses on understanding the relationship between tissue microstructure and clinical as well as autonomic measures that potentially lead to identifying biomarkers for ME/CFS.

After the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis International Consensus Criteria (ME-ICC) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis International Primer for Medical Practitioners (ICP) were published, new diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS was published on CDC’s website.

Our concern is that the new criteria, IOM 2015 Diagnostic Criteria, has watered down the Neurological Abnormality in ME (ICP, page 4) significantly.

Symptom severity & impact (ICP, page 9) is also missing from the IOM criteria. We are concerned that Severe (mostly housebound) and Very Severe (mostly bedbound and require assistance with daily functions) will miss out the clinical care under the IOM criteria. Those severely affected are too ill to attend regular medical appointments, leaving them unable to access safe and continuing clinical care.

Accordingly, we keep using ME-ICC and ICP for planning and operation of our clinic.

We believe that Kiran’s research in MRI and Neuroimaging at the NCNED is critical for developing a Clinical Pathway for ME, including Severe and Very Severe patients, creating Neuroimaging protocol for clinicians, supporting the correct diagnosis of ME to design personalised care plans for patients.

Kiran emphasises the importance of applying the ME-ICC diagnostic criteria in his research. His findings are differentiating ME-ICC from CFS-Fukuda. His findings will also advocate patients seeking disability support with the ME-ICC diagnosis.

Here is a video recording from the RID International ME/CFS Conference in November 2021. His publications, Mapping of pathological change in chronic fatigue syndrome using the ratio of T1- and T2-weighted MRI scans and Diffusion tensor imaging reveals neuronal microstructural changes in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, were explained in this presentation.

Kiran is currently working on the next MRI and Neuroimaging research project. You will find the updates on his research on NCNED’s Facebook page.

Would you like to participate in his research as a healthy control or a patient? Would you like to know more about his research, or would you like to collaborate with his project? Please get in touch with him.

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