EAN 2021 | Managing disease progression: a challenge in MS care

Bart Van Wijmeersch, MD, PhD, Rehabilitation and MS Center Overpelt & University of Hasselt, Hasselt, Belgium, shares clinical strategies and technical tools to tackle disease progression early on when the patient presents smoldering lesions, and it is still possible to stop evolution to clinical secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). Prof. Van Wijmeersch highlights that early intervention is crucial as at this moment in time, there are no suitable treatments available to halt progression, and therefore preventing secondary progressive disease is the best strategy. Some new tools and techniques allow early progression detection, some at a clinical level, such as patient-reported outcomes using smartphone apps. Technical means to look at disease progression include MRI, brain atrophy, biomarkers, electrophysiology, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). This interview took place during the European Academy of Neurology 2021 congress.