The ECTRIMS Podcast

Two sessions at the 9th Joint ECTRIMS-ACTRIMS Meeting (MSMilan2023) focused on nursing. Nurses play a critical role throughout an MS patient's life. And in this episode, we discuss the changing role of MS nurses and the challenges they face, with guests Belinda Bardsley, an N-CRESS (Neuro-Immunology Clinical Research, Education and Support Service) Nurse Manager at Austin Health in Melbourne, Australia; and Ruth Stross, Head of Nursing at Neurology Academy in England. Hosted by Brett Drummond of MS Translate.

Long term use of disease modifying treatments (DMTs) poses challenges in terms of safety and pharmacoeconomics, while preventing disability progression. As such, there is an ongoing debate on how long disease modifying treatments should be continued and if discontinuation should be considered in stable multiple sclerosis.

In this episode, Alan Thompson, Editor in Chief of the MS Journal, speaks with Gilles Edan, Professor of Clinical Neurology and chair of the Department of Neurosciences, University Hospital of Rennes; and Eva Strijbis, neurologist at the Department of Neurology, MS Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers.

Listen to Clare Walton with MS Society UK and host Brett Drummond discuss the key takeways unveiled on the second day of MSMilan2023.

ECTRIMS Lecturer Dr. Stephen Hauser deep dives into the most relevant insights from day one of MSMilan2023, with host Brett Drummond.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) treatments have been successfully added onto the World Health Organisation's Essential Medicines List (EML) in July 2023. Nick Rijke of the MS International Federation and Deanna Saylor of Johns Hopkins Hospital discuss the impact of this milestone and the next steps for clinicians, researchers, patients, and the MS community at large.

MS affects more women than men. Research on the reasons behind this, and if and how sex-specific processes may impact disease progression, and the symptoms experienced by women living with MS continue to expand. In this episode, Rhonda Voskuhl of UCLA and Elisabeth Celius of University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital discuss these issues and more.

The development of global databases that record and store large amounts of clinical data for people living with MS has made a significant difference to the MS research world. In this episode, we talk to Izanne Roos of the University of Melbourne and Cyrus Daruwalla of the University of Cambridge about the types of registries that currently exist, the importance of collecting observational data and how they used both in their research, which was presented as part of the late-breaking session at ECTRIMS 2022.

A longitudinal study published in 2022 found that infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) dramatically increased the risk of developing multiple sclerosis, suggesting that MS is likely caused by EBV. In this episode, Professor Alberto Ascherio of Harvard University, who led the study, discusses the findings and their preventative and therapeutic implications.

Everyone with MS should have access to the treatment and care that they need. Yet in 70% of countries, people face huge challenges in accessing disease modifying therapies (DMTs). Nick Rijke with the MS International Federation and Deanna Saylor of Johns Hopkins Hospital discuss a recent bid to add MS DMTs to the WHO's Essential Medicines List.