April 15, 2022
With more than a dozen medications that are currently approved for the treatment of MS, how does one choose the best medication for an individual?
The spectrum of MS is wide and can vary widely from one person to the other.
Several studies have shown that a patient's initial disease course gives us many clues as to how their subsequent disease course is going to be.
Early disease charecteristics including -relape rate, symptoms of a relapse, recovery from a relapse, number of lesions on brain and spinal cord MRIs, location of the lesions, all have prognostic value in helping predict how one's disease course will be.
And blood tests Like JC virus antibody test can tell us risks associated with going on certain immune suppressive medications.
So one can establish a patient profile based on the disease charecteristics of an individual and risk vs benefits of particular immunesuppressive medication for that individual.
Based on this profile we can personalize treatment to cater specifically to that individual.
Jai S Perumal, MD