Episode 170: Evaluating New MS Diagnostic Criteria in Atypical Presentations

Episode 170 of the NeurologyLive^® Mind Moments^® podcast is now live! Scroll down to listen or click here to subscribe on your favorite streaming service.

The Mind Moments podcast features exclusive interviews with leaders in the field discussing the latest research and disease management strategies across the breadth of neurology, including epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, dementia, sleep disorders, and more.

In this Mind Moments episode, Daniel Ontaneda, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, discusses a recently published study in Neurology evaluating the application of the 2024 McDonald Criteria in individuals with nonspecific neurologic symptoms or incidental MRI findings. Using data from the CAHPS-MS study, Ontaneda explains how the revised diagnostic criteria perform in these previously understudied patient populations and what the findings may mean for earlier identification of multiple sclerosis. 

The conversation explores the rationale behind expanding the 2024 McDonald Criteria, the role of central vein sign and cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal bands in improving diagnostic confidence, and how clinicians should approach patients who fall into a diagnostic gray zone. Ontaneda also discusses the practical application of the updated criteria, the importance of longitudinal follow-up, and how emerging biomarkers may continue to refine MS diagnosis in the years ahead.

The stories featured in this week’s Neurology News Minute, which will give you quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here:

• FDA Advisory Committee Schedules Meeting to Review Deramiocel's BLA in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy
• FDA Clears PoNS Device for Stroke Rehabilitation, Expanding Neurostimulation Beyond MS Indication
• FDA Accepts Sarepta's sNDAs for Casimersen and Golodirsen for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

EPISODE BREAKDOWN

• 1:15 – Why the 2024 McDonald Criteria expanded diagnostic eligibility
• 4:30 – Applying the criteria in nonspecific symptom presentations
• 6:20 – Clinical relevance of symptom patterns and MRI findings
• 8:40 – Using biomarkers to improve diagnostic confidence
• 11:25 – Neurology News Minute 
• 13:55– Interpreting dissemination in time with updated criteria
• 15:45 – Future validation of emerging MS diagnostic biomarkers

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