OBJECTIVE In multiple sclerosis (MS), the aim of therapies is to prevent the accumulation of irreversible disability. This is difficult to assess given the short time course of clinical trials. MRI markers and relapses are often used as surrogate of disability in MS studies, but their validity remains controversial. We sought to validate, at the individual patient level, MRI lesions and relapse...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between different disability states in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) as determined by the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) and dental-periodontal measures. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Eighty patients with MS (64 females and 16 males) were included in this study. Data on MS types, attack frequency, disease duration, EDSS s...

The article by Abboud et al. investigating the outcome of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) relapses treated by steroids alone or in association with plasma exchange (PLEX) demonstrates a better outcome in PLEX-treated attacks with a higher proportion of patients improving to baseline Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS): 65% vs 35%. Considering the high level of significance of their results, they...

Neurology 2008;71:620–621 Since the emergence of the modern therapeutic era in multiple sclerosis (MS), the field has focused on identifying agents to prevent long-term disability progression. In lieu of measuring the true endpoint of interest, long-term disability progression, clinical trials typically measure surrogate endpoints, such as short-term disability progression or changes in lesion ...

UNLABELLED The aim of this study was to investigate if brain atrophy in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients during the disease onset predicts long term disability. METHODS MS patients with follow-up time of at least 7 years from disease onset and with baseline and second magnetic resonance 12 months later were included to measure brain atrophy. Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) was categor...

When developing his disability scales for multiple sclerosis, Kurtzke demonstrated perception and insight. However, 45 years later, the evaluation of his clinically derived scales remains limited, particularly for more disabled patients. Indeed, many of Kurtzke's assumptions underpinning the development of the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) and Functional Systems (FS) are untested. Thi...

The Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) has been the most widely used measure of disability in multiple sclerosis clinical trials. Although EDSS has the advantage of familiarity with respect to recent proposals, yet is difficult to use consistently between evaluators. AEDSS (Automatic EDSS) is a computerized system designed to overcome this problem. It constrains the neurologist to follow p...

BACKGROUND Economic costs related to treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) must be justified by health state, quality of life (QOL) and social participation improvement. This study aims to describe correlations between social participation, economic costs, utility and MS-specific QOL in a sample of patients with MS (pwMS). METHODS We interviewed 42 pwMS receiving natalizumab and collected clin...

OBJECTIVE To assess the comparative utility of disability progression measures in primary progressive MS (PPMS) using the PROMiSe trial data set. METHODS Data for patients randomized to placebo (n = 316) in the PROMiSe trial were included in this analysis. Disability was assessed using change in single (Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS], timed 25-foot walk [T25FW], and 9-hole peg test [...

Background: Patients with multiple sclerosis experience various disabilities, depending on the number and placement of lesions in the brain. Red blood cells with impaired membrane fluidity, as has been reported in patients with multiple sclerosis are known to be further targeted by phospholipase A2 during inflammatory activation. Objectives: The objective of the present study was therefore to i...