REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN CHARCOT FOUNDATION ANNUAL MEETING – BAVENO, ITALY, NOVEMBER 28-30, 2013 – It is well established that relapse frequency declines during pregnancy, followed by an increased relapse risk during the first three months postpartum (Vukusic et al. Brain 2004;127(Pt 6):1353-1360). A similar pattern appears to occur during a second pregnancy, so relapse risk is not additive, according to Dr. Sandra Vukusic, Lyons, France (Vukusic S. ECF 2013).

When faced with a patient who wants to become pregnant again, clinicians can offer the same advice as they gave for the first pregnancy. It should be noted that patients receiving in vitro fertilization have a higher risk of relapse following the procedure because of exposure to gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists; the relapse risk is higher in women who do not become pregnant with IVF (Michel et al. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2012;83:796-802).

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REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN CHARCOT FOUNDATION ANNUAL MEETING – BAVENO, ITALY, NOVEMBER 28-30, 2013 – The optimal strategy for managing patients with an inadequate response to an initial disease-modifying therapy (DMT) was the focus of discussion at a session of the ECF annual meeting and two somewhat different approaches were presented.

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REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN CHARCOT FOUNDATION ANNUAL MEETING – BAVENO, ITALY, NOVEMBER 28-30, 2013 – Lumbar puncture was once part of the routine work-up of MS patients but the usefulness of CSF oligoclonal bands (OCB) in the diagnosis of MS was de-emphasized following the publication of the revised McDonald criteria (Polman et al. Ann Neurol 2005;58:840-846).

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REPORT FROM THE EUROPEAN CHARCOT FOUNDATION ANNUAL MEETING – BAVENO, ITALY, NOVEMBER 28-30, 2013 – Recent studies have attempted to identify baseline disease characteristics that would predict response to a given treatment, but no factors have been determined thus far. However, markers of disease activity during treatment can be useful for identifying treatment failure.

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