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Associations between chronic active lesions and clinical outcomes in multiple sclerosis: A systematic literature review

Bagnato F, Mordin M, Greene N, Mahida S, van Wingerden J

Journal of managed care & specialty pharmacy, 2025

1 citation

Abstract

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease. Emerging evidence suggests that chronic disease processes within the central nervous system are important drivers of the ongoing disability accumulation in people with MS (pwMS). Chronic lesion activity driven by smoldering neuroinflammation is considered one of the neuropathological hallmarks of disease progression in worsening disability. Our understanding of the role of chronic active lesions (CALs) in MS pathology has expanded with improvements in imaging technology. Three in vivo imaging biomarkers of CALs are available to detect CALs: paramagnetic rim lesions (PRLs), 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO)-positron emission tomography rim-positive lesions, and the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-defined slowly expanding lesions (SELs).

Objective: To evaluate associations between CALs and measures of worsening disability in pwMS.

Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines using PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library on April 21, 2023. The review included randomized controlled trials, retrospective studies, and prospective cross-sectional and longitudinal studies conducted during 2010-2023 reporting the outcomes of interest. Studies evaluating people with any MS phenotype were included if they reported any associative analysis between CALs and clinical outcomes.

Results: A total…

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