Defining the course of tumefactive multiple sclerosis: A large retrospective multicentre study.

Background And Purpose: Tumefactive multiple sclerosis (TuMS) (i.e., MS onset presenting with tumefactive demyelinating lesions [TDLs]) is a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge.

Data of safety in a single-center alemtuzumab treated population.

Alemtuzumab is approved for highly active MS and, in Europe, can be employed after other disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) as an escalation approach or first therapeutic option. The occurrence of secondary autoimmune adverse events and infections differs depending on the employed approach. In the manuscript entitled "Alemtuzumab treatment of multiple sclerosis in real-world clinical practice: report from a single Italian center" by di Ioia M.

No evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3) and disability improvement after alemtuzumab treatment for multiple sclerosis: a 36-month real-world study.

In this retrospective, multicenter, real-world study we collected clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of all patients (n = 40) with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) treated with alemtuzumab according to a "free-of-charge" protocol available before the drug marketing approval in Italy. Almost all (39/40) started alemtuzumab after discontinuing multiple disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) because of either lack of response or safety concerns. We considered the proportion of alemtuzumab-treated patients who had no evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3) and disability improvement over a 36-month follow-up period.

Simultaneous early-onset severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia and albuminuria during alemtuzumab treatment for multiple sclerosis.

Background: Alemtuzumab, approved for multiple sclerosis (MS), can cause secondary autoimmune adverse events including thyroid disorders, immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and glomerular nephropathies. Non-ITP autoimmune cytopenias are rarely reported.

Objective: To report a case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) and nephropathy in a MS patient treated with alemtuzumab.

Predictors of long-term disability accrual in relapse-onset multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To identify predictors of 10-year Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) change after treatment initiation in patients with relapse-onset multiple sclerosis.

Methods: Using data obtained from MSBase, we defined baseline as the date of first injectable therapy initiation. Patients need only have remained on injectable therapy for 1 day and were monitored on any approved disease-modifying therapy, or no therapy thereafter.

Experience of an information aid for newly diagnosed multiple sclerosis patients: a qualitative study on the SIMS-Trial.

Background: The SIMS-Trial (ISRCTN81072971) proved the effectiveness, in terms of patient's knowledge and care satisfaction, of an add-on information aid (personal interview with a physician using a navigable CD and take-home booklet) in 120 newly diagnosed patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) from five Italian centres.

Objective: To scrutinize the experience of SIMS-Trial participants in order to gain better understanding of the effectiveness of the information aid and its components.

Design: We performed (i) nine individual semi-structured interviews with a purposeful sample of SIMS-Trial patients who received the information aid, (ii) focus group meeting (FGM) with the physicians who conducted the personal interview, and (iii) FGM with patients' caring neurologists.

Gender-related effect of clinical and genetic variables on the cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Cognitive impairment may occur at any time during the course of multiple sclerosis (MS), and it is often a major cause of disability in patients with the disease. The APOE-epsilon4 allele is the major known genetic risk factor for late onset familial and sporadic Alzheimer's Disease (AD), and it seems to be implicated in cognitive decline in normal elderly persons.

Objective: To investigate the clinical and genetic variables that can be associated with the cognitive decline in patients with MS.