Developing a Therapeutic Plan for Treating MS: Evidence for New Treatments

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) require an individualized treatment plan that will help slow disability progression and reduce the number and duration of relapses. The available disease-modifying therapies are approved for relapsing forms of MS, with one agent also approved for secondary progressive MS. Clinicians must know the benefits and adverse effects associated with these treatments and guide patients to the most appropriate medication tailored to their disease course and presentation, as well as to their preferred administration method. To treat relapses that have not spontaneously remitted, clinicians may use short-term steroids (IV or oral formulations) or, for acute relapses in patients who cannot tolerate steroids, plasma exchange or IV immunoglobulin (IVIG). Patients may also have questions regarding complementary and alternative medicines, so clinicians should know which options are most promising for patients with MS.

From the Department of Neurology and the MS Clinic and Laboratory of Viral and Demyelinating Disease, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis (Dr Levin); and the Departments of Family Medicine and Psychiatry, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, Memphis (Dr Jackson).

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