Townsville Neurosciences

Therapy-related acute leukaemia with mitoxantrone: four years on, what is the risk and can it be limited?

MS treatment regimens which limit the mitoxantrone dose to < 60 mg/m(2) reduce the risk of therapy-related acute leukaemia (TRAL).

UK multiple sclerosis risk-sharing scheme: a new natural history dataset and an improved Markov model.

A new untreated MS cohort from British Columbia has been selected and will be modelled using a continuous Markov model with onset age as a baseline covariate. This approach will now be applied to the treated UK RSS MS cohort for future price adjustment calculations.

Role of intravenous immunoglobulin in the treatment of acute relapses of neuromyelitis optica: experience in 10 patients.

Prompt treatment of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) relapses with steroids or plasma exchange (PLEX) often prevents irreversible disability.

The epidemiology of neuromyelitis optica amongst adults in the Merseyside county of United Kingdom.

NMO still remains an uncommon condition, but the prevalence is rising with early diagnosis.

Neuropathic pruritus (itch) in neuromyelitis optica.

Neuropathic pruritus seems to be a common, but under-recognised symptom of myelitis associated with NMO.

The effects of long-term exposure to disease-modifying drugs during pregnancy in multiple sclerosis.

It is possible that, with further such supportive data, international guidelines on MS treatment in young women who intend to get pregnant may need to be revised.

Prognostic factors and disease course in aquaporin-4 antibody-positive patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder from the United Kingdom and Japan.

Neuromyelitis optica and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders have been recently associated with the disease-specific autoantibody aquaporin-4, thought to be pathogenic. Identifying this antibody has allowed the clinical phenotype to be broadened. Age at disease onset and genetic factors are both likely to be important in determining clinical outcomes in aquaporin-4 disease.

Fasciculations and cramps: how benign? Report of four cases progressing to ALS.

We propose that a diagnosis of benign cramps and fasciculations should not be considered secure without a minimum follow up of 4-5 years.

Immunosuppression followed by immunomodulation.

The effectiveness of such induction regimens should encourage physicians to reconsider thresholds to define treatment failure on 'first-line' therapies, the criteria for acceptable disease control, as well as the relative place of induction and escalation treatment strategies in the management of RRMS.