Publications by authors named "Raphael De Paz"
Background: Late-onset neutropenia (LON), defined as an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) < 1500/mm that develops between 4 weeks and 6 months after the last drug administration, is a rare side effect of anti-CD20 drugs including ocrelizumab. Although continuation of ocrelizumab after LON is not contraindicated, the risk of LON recurrence is not well known.
Cases: We report three cases of recurrent symptomatic agranulocytosis (ANC < 500/mm) occurring under ocrelizumab.
Article Synopsis
- * Out of these patients, six had to stop taking fingolimod, while six others were vaccinated against HPV, which was well-tolerated.
- * The study emphasizes the importance of screening for HPV and discussing vaccination options before starting fingolimod, along with the need for thorough evaluation of HPV disease if lesions appear during treatment, and calls for more prevalence studies among MS patients.
Necrotizing autoimmune myopathy (NAM) is a group of acquired myopathies characterized by prominent myofiber necrosis with little or no muscle inflammation. Recently, researchers identified autoantibodies (aAb) against 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) in patients with NAM, especially in statin-exposed patients. Here we report what is to our knowledge the first European cohort of patients with NAM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vitamin D could play a protective role in multiple sclerosis.
Methods: In an observational, uncontrolled study, vitamin D3 supplementation (3010 IU/day on average) was given to 156 consecutive patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, under first-line immunomodulatory therapy and with initial 25-OH-D serum level lower than 100 nmol/l (40 ng/ml). Relapses were determined for 29.
Background: Considering that most semantic dementia (SD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) patients show no post-mortem Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers may be of value for distinguishing these patients from those with AD. Additionally, biomarkers may be useful for identifying patients with atypical phenotypic presentations of AD, such as posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) and primary progressive non-fluent or logopenic aphasia (PNFLA).
Methods: The authors investigated CSF biomarkers (beta-amyloid 1-42 (Aβ(42)), total tau (T-tau) and phosphorylated tau (P-tau)) in 164 patients with AD (n=60), PCA (n=15), behavioural variant FTD (n=27), SD (n=19), PNFLA (n=26) and functional cognitive disorders (FCD, n=17).