{"id":500,"date":"2015-03-24T04:38:16","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T04:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/?p=500"},"modified":"2015-03-24T04:38:16","modified_gmt":"2015-03-24T04:38:16","slug":"spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/","title":{"rendered":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), sustained long-term disability is a problem that elicits considerable concern. There is the impact on independence and the potential burden that it may lead to for caregivers. While treatments for MS seem to multiply by the year, established disability remains the one area that is still refractory to treatment. Most of the current medications are excellent for preventing relapses but it is important to remember there is still no good evidence that these medications prevent long-term disability. The trials have not been done and it seems unlikely that they ever will be. There are global efforts directed at progressive forms of MS,\u00a0 such as The International Progressive MS alliance which is seeking to bring together groups of researchers who are committed to developing new methods for treating progressive MS (http:\/\/www.progressivemsalliance.org<\/a>) .<\/p>\n

The importance of such endeavours is underscored by a manuscript in this month\u2019s issue of JNNP. \u00a0Lukas et al have explored the contribution of cervical spine cord damage to the development of disability in MS http:\/\/jnnp.bmj.com\/content\/86\/4\/410.abstract<\/a> . They have assessed radiological parameters in a large cohort of patients and have demonstrated that there is a change in the dimensions of the spinal cord that appears to occur in all forms of MS. These changes also predicted disease progression. Critically, the thinning of the cord occurred not only in patients with progressive MS, but also in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). A number of these RRMS patients were on treatment with immunomodulatory mechanisms and it is sobering to think that the changes in the spinal cord occurred despite the potential benefits of being on drug treatment. This study is of importance as it highlights the importance of spinal cord disease in the development of disability. The authors also make the valid point that measures of spinal cord injury need to be incorporated into MS drug trials.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), sustained long-term disability is a problem that elicits considerable concern. There is the impact on independence and the potential burden that it may lead to for caregivers. While treatments for MS seem to multiply by the year, established disability remains the one area that is still refractory to treatment. […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSpinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), sustained long-term disability is a problem that elicits considerable concern. There is the impact on independence and the potential burden that it may lead to for caregivers. While treatments for MS seem to multiply by the year, established disability remains the one area that is still refractory to treatment. [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"JNNP blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials?\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":333,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/2015\\\/03\\\/24\\\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/\",\"name\":\"JNNP blog\",\"description\":\"The official JNNP blog. A place to discuss wider neurology beyond the journal's monthly edition.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"JNNP blog\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/blog-logo-jnnp1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/11\\\/blog-logo-jnnp1.png\",\"width\":427,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"JNNP blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/jnnp\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog","og_description":"For patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), sustained long-term disability is a problem that elicits considerable concern. There is the impact on independence and the potential burden that it may lead to for caregivers. While treatments for MS seem to multiply by the year, established disability remains the one area that is still refractory to treatment. [...]Read More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/","og_site_name":"JNNP blog","article_published_time":"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials?","datePublished":"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/"},"wordCount":333,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/","name":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials? - JNNP blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-24T04:38:16+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/2015\/03\/24\/spinal-cord-injury-in-multiple-sclerosis-why-is-this-important-for-ms-clinical-trials\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Spinal cord injury in multiple sclerosis: why is this important for MS clinical trials?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/","name":"JNNP blog","description":"The official JNNP blog. A place to discuss wider neurology beyond the journal's monthly edition.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#organization","name":"JNNP blog","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/files\/2017\/11\/blog-logo-jnnp1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/files\/2017\/11\/blog-logo-jnnp1.png","width":427,"height":34,"caption":"JNNP blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/jnnp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}