In people with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) treated with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), levels of B-cells can help to predict the risk of progression independent of relapse activity, a new study reports. “Our results unveil a discernible relationship between the degree of B-cell depletion and disease progression in…

People with multiple sclerosis (MS) who experience progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA) tend to have greater damage to major white matter tracts, or bundles of nerve fibers that connect different regions of the brain, a new study reports. The findings offer some insights into the biological processes that…

Disability progression independent of relapse activity, or PIRA, in the earliest stages of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) is associated with worsening quality of life, a study in Sweden shows. PIRA is a form of sustained disability worsening that occurs in the absence of multiple sclerosis (MS) relapses. While…

In people with multiple sclerosis (MS), disability worsening independent of relapse activity — commonly known as “silent progression” — tends to be accompanied by greater atrophy, or shrinkage, in the spinal cord, as well as a higher number of lesions with chronic inflammation, known as paramagnetic rim lesions or…

Among multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with Ocrevus (ocrelizumab), most of the disability worsening they experience is not associated with any relapse activity, according to an analysis of real-world data. “We present real-world data from our multiple sclerosis center underlining that in a typical population of relapsing MS…

Disability progression in the absence of relapses is less common in children and adolescents with multiple sclerosis (MS) than among people with adult-onset disease, according to data covering more than 5,000 patients with relapsing forms of MS. Nevertheless, this form of progression — called progression independent of relapse activity,…

Nearly two-thirds of people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) report disease progression independent of relapses, according to a survey involving more than 4,500 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients in Germany. This finding supports evidence pointing to progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA) as an underestimated contributing factor in RRMS.

People with relapsing multiple sclerosis who have disability progression, but no clinical relapses, show significantly faster brain shrinkage, or atrophy, than those with a stable disease, a study shows. There were no significant differences in the brain atrophy rate between patients with progression independent of relapse activity (PIRA) and…

A substantial amount of disability worsening happens independently of relapses in people with multiple sclerosis (MS), including those in earlier stages of relapsing-remitting disease, a study in a large patient database reported. While its findings “confirm relapses contribute to the accumulation of disability, primarily early in multiple sclerosis,” data…

Editor’s note: The Multiple Sclerosis News Today team is providing in-depth coverage of the virtual 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), Oct. 13–15. Go here to see the latest stories from the conference. People…

Potential new ways of capturing disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients — including those with chronic as opposed to active inflammation — are coming to the fore as analyses continue into the huge amounts of data collected during pivotal clinical trials that led to Ocrevus’ approval, a leading Genentech researcher…