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A new simple eye test may offer a quick and simple way to monitor patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), medical experts say in the journal Neurology.

The test, known as an Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) scan, takes just a few minutes per eye and can be performed at a general practitioner's surgery.

A team of researchers from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine say larger trials with a long follow up are needed to judge how useful the test might be in everyday practice.

Multiple sclerosis is a disease which affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord causing problems with muscle movement, balance and vision. In MS, the protective sheath or layer around nerves, called myelin, comes under attack which, in turn, leaves the nerves open to damage.

Reporting the findings in the journal Neurology, the researchers said the findings are only preliminary and a much larger trial would be needed with longer follow ups to judge how useful the eye scan might be in an everyday practice.

About 8 out of 10 of people have a type of MS known as relapsing remitting, which means people will have periods where symptoms are mild or non-existent followed by periods of flare-ups. But after about ten years, around half of these people will develop a secondary progressive form of the disease where symptoms get worse and remissions are fewer.

The findings suggest that retinal thinning occurs faster in patients with earlier and more active MS, than in those who have had the disease longer.

"As more therapies are developed to slow the progression of MS, testing retinal thinning in the eyes may be helpful in evaluating how effective those therapies are," study author Dr. Peter Calabresi, told the BBC.