Daily high dose vitamin D in multiple sclerosis has no effect
Daily high dose vitamin D has been a treatment of choice for many people with multiple sclerosis, more specifically a few pockets of patients who follow some physicians in certain places in the world, such as São Paulo. The complete package these physicians and patients use is vitamin D enough to keep the blood level […]
Neuroimaging of multiple sclerosis and disease progression
Neuroimaging of multiple sclerosis has made many relevant discoveries on the the natural history of multiple sclerosis, nowadays very well known. Patients have neurological relapses followed by remissisons for a decade (adults) or 2 decades ( children), when they develop neurological progression, usually consisting of progressive paraparesis. The cause of this progression has been debated. […]
Ocrelizumab, teriflunomide and dymethylfumarate
Ocrelizumab, teriflunomide and dymethylfumarate are becoming increasingly available and useful in therapy of multiple sclerosis. Ocrelizumab has been shown to be superior to interferon already in the first few weeks of use. Barkhoff et al. Neurology 2019, 93:e1778-e1786 These investigators looked at MRI and clinically assessed disease activity in 1800 patientsw ho had participated in […]
Natalizumab loses effect with time of infusion
That natalizumab loses effect as time of infusion goes on is well known. A study has confirmed the experience of many patients that natalizumab loses effect over time, and has demonstrated that it is not due to the pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic mechanisms evaluated. The authors were based in Amsterdam and looked at 93 adults aged […]
Cognition in ALS and people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Cognition in ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – has received some attention and debate. A longitudinal study in a large cohort of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta in Italy found that cognitive and motor deficits evolve in parallel with the course of the disease, according to the natural history of […]
Neuromyelitis optica clinical and therapeutic update
The acronym Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder began to be applied clinically in the past 10 years. For many decades the also called Devic Disease was considered part of Multiple Sclerosis. The identification of a separate disease altogether started with the discovery of aquaporin in 1986, and then of anti-aquaporin 4 immunoglobulin G. This antibody to […]
Pediatric multiple sclerosis or multiple sclerosis in children
Pediatric multiple sclerosis, or multiple sclerosis starting in children, accounts for betweem 2-10% of all cases. It is characterized by increased diagnostic delay, increased relapse rate and a higher proportion of relapse onset disease, when compared to adult onset disease. In other words, pediatric multiple sclerosis takes more time to be diagnosed in comparison to […]
Oral therapy of MS becomes more effective
Oral therapy of MS – multiple sclerosis has become more varied and effective. There are now many injectable and oral treatments, all with the objective of protecting a patient’s brain from inflammation. But physicians and patients have little evidence, as there very few head to head comparisons of the available drugs. A recent study made […]
Options of therapy for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder
The field of the disease neuromyelitis optica, and especially of its therapy, may have in 2019 the most significant year since the disease was first described 200 years ago, or since it was named neuromyelitis 100 years ago. Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder occurs in approximately 1 case per 100000 person-years. That is the prevalence calculated […]
The choice of available therapies for multiple sclerosis
Therapies for multiple sclerosis in the USA include over 20 different drugs. Siponimod – Mayzent – and Cladribine – Mavenclad – have become FDA-approved this year. Cladribine is a more effective theray, with significant safety problems, including the development of malignancies. Thus it is reserved for people that have failed other therapies. Almost 1 million […]
