Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders
Giovannoni, Gavin; Hawkes, Chris; Lechner-Scott, Jeannette; Levy, Michael; Waubant, Emmanuelle; Gold, Julian
Introduction
Maria was distraught after reading about the ‘potential’ epidemic, yet to happen, and the horror stories on Facebook needing reassurance and certainty about what she should do. She requested an urgent appoint- ment to review her treatment plan. Maria was a 26-year-old woman with relapsing multiple sclerosis who had recently experienced brainstem relapse with double vision and ataxia despite treatment with pegylated interferon-beta for the last 18 months. A brain MRI performed one month prior had shown 16 new T2 lesions, four of which were enhancing. One of the enhancing lesions was at the pontomedullary junction and was certainly the cause of her relapse. Treatment was to be escalated to ocrelizumab with the first dose in a week's time. In view of the emerging coronavirus pandemic, she was questioning whether or not she should go ahead with ocrelizumab. This was despite only a handful of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country and none in her town and region.
Keywords
Clinical aspects, diagnosis, treatment