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Disease mechanisms in MS

Phases of disease improvement unrelated to relapses

Natural history of multiple sclerosis includes phases of relapse, remission and insidious progression. New data show that sustained improvements in disease, defined by reductions in EDSS scores, occur independent of relapses almost half as frequently as disease worsening. This finding might facilitate research into the biological processes involved in disease improvement.

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Figure 1: A fictitious Kaplan–Meier analysis of the probability of 1-point sustained changes in EDSS scores.

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Andersen, O. Phases of disease improvement unrelated to relapses. Nat Rev Neurol 8, 596–598 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrneurol.2012.186

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