Translation of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 : Brazilian version

Objective: This study translated the Portuguese version of the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life-54 (MSQoL-54) questionnaire. Methods: The original version of 18 items from the MSQoL-54 was translated into Brazilian Portuguese using international guidelines. Two independent translations were completed by Brazilians fluent in English and the results were evaluated and harmonized, concluding version: 1. This version was back-translated by an American living in Brazil and then another analysis was conducted, resulting in version 2. Concluding the translation and harmonization phase, the final version was pre-tested with ten participants from the Reference Centre for Multiple Sclerosis at the Porto Alegre Clinical Hospital in Rio Grande do Sul (RS)-Brazil. Results: The questionnaire was well accepted by the patient’s sample that tested the 18 specific items. They presented no conceptual problems. Conclusion: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) felt the questionnaire was easy to understand. We thus attained terms of conceptual equivalence between the original questionnaire and the translation

The central vein sign in multiple sclerosis : a biomarker evaluated on a 3T MRI scanner

The central vein sign (CVS) is a promising MRI biomarker in multiple sclerosis (MS). CVS has recently been proposed to improve the accuracy and speed of MS diagnosis. Evidence indicates that the presence of CVS in individual lesions can accurately differentiate MS from other diseases that mimic this condition, such as hypertensive microangiopathy, atypical demyelination, and neuromyelitis optica. Most studies have used 7T MRI scanners, which limits their clinical applicability. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the fusion of the FLAIR and SWI sequences, generating FLAIR*, allows CVS visualization even on 3T scanners. Many studies have confirmed that CVS at 3T is a specific imaging finding for MS

Depression, lower urinary tract symptoms and quality of life in women with multiple sclerosis: A descriptive and correlational study

Background: Among the most ordinary clinical manifestations of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) are depression and the presence of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS). Both can compromise a person’s quality of life. Objective: The objective of this research was to identify the major urinary symptoms and correlate them with quality of life and with depressive symptoms in women with MS. Methodology: This was an observatory, descriptive and correlational study, with non-probabilistic sampling by convenience. This research included women over 18 years old who displayed LUT symptoms and who had been diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting MS. Assessment consisted of an anamnesis card, the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 (IIQ-7-BR), the Urogenital Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6-BR), the Beck Depression Inventory-2 (BDI-II) and the Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Questionnaire - Portuguese version (MSQOL-54). Results: 41 women participated in the study, with average age of 50.1 (± 9.45) and average of 4.11 in the EDSS. The most common urinary symptom was urinary urgency (78%). There was no correlation between the severity of the urinary symptom and quality of life. Moderate and significant negative correlation (r = -0.561 p<0.001) was found between depression and the physical component of quality of life and strong negative correlation (r = -0.729 p<0.001) was found between depression and the mental component. Conclusions: The most prevalent urinary symptom was urinary urgency. A strong correlation was found between symptoms of depression and quality of life and there was no correlation between urinary symptoms and quality of life.Keywords: Multiple sclerosis; urinary incontinence; quality of life; depressio

Articulatory speech measures can be related to the severity of multiple sclerosis

Background: Dysarthria is one of the most frequent communication disorders in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), with an estimated prevalence of around 50%. However, it is unclear if there is a relationship between dysarthria and the severity or duration of the disease. Objective: Describe the speech pattern in MS, correlate with clinical data, and compare with controls. Methods: A group of MS patients (n = 73) matched to healthy controls (n = 37) by sex and age. Individuals with neurological and/or systemic conditions that could interfere with speech were excluded. MS group clinical data were obtained through the analysis of medical records. The speech assessment consisted of auditory-perceptual and speech acoustic analysis, from recording the following speech tasks: phonation and breathing (sustained vowel/a/); prosody (sentences with different intonation patterns) and articulation (diadochokinesis; spontaneous speech; diphthong/iu/repeatedly). Results: In MS, 72.6% of the individuals presented mild dysarthria, with alterations in speech subsystems: phonation, breathing, resonance, and articulation. In the acoustic analysis, individuals with MS were significantly worse than the control group (CG) in the variables: standard deviation of the fundamental frequency (p = 0.001) and maximum phonation time (p = 0.041). In diadochokinesis, individuals with MS had a lower number of syllables, duration, and phonation time, but larger pauses per seconds, and in spontaneous speech, a high number of pauses were evidenced as compared to CG. Correlations were found between phonation time in spontaneous speech and the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) (r = − 0.238, p = 0.043) and phonation ratio in spontaneous speech and EDSS (r = −0.265, p = 0.023), which indicates a correlation between the number of pauses during spontaneous speech and the severity of the disease. Conclusion: The speech profile in MS patients was mild dysarthria, with a decline in the phonatory, respiratory, resonant, and articulatory subsystems of speech, respectively, in order of prevalence. The increased number of pauses during speech and lower rates of phonation ratio can reflect the severity of MS

Individual macular layer evaluation with spectral domain optical coherence tomography in normal and glaucomatous eyes

Purpose: To evaluate differences in the thickness of the individual macular layers between early, moderate, and severe glaucomatous eyes and compare them with healthy controls. Patients and Methods: Subjects with glaucoma presenting typical optic nerve head findings, high intraocular pressure with or without visual field (VF) damage and normal controls were included. All participants underwent 24–2 perimetry and spectral-domain OCT. Patients were divided into three groups (early, moderate, and severe) based on the mean deviation of the VF and a healthy control group. The device segmented the layers automatically, and their measurements were plotted using the means of the sectors of the inner (3mm) and outer (6mm) circles of the ETDRS grid. Results: A total of 109 eyes qualified for the study: 14 in the control group and 52, 18 and 25 in the early, moderate and severe groups, respectively. Mean age was 66.13 (SD=12.38). The mean thickness of the circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), total macular thickness (TMT), macular RNFL, ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) were significantly different between the 4 groups, with progressive decrease in thickness. Significant overall difference was found for the inner nuclear layer (INL), and the severe glaucoma group presented thicker measurements than controls and early glaucoma. Outer nuclear layer (ONL) was thinner in severe glaucoma group compared with early glaucoma group. Conclusion: Individual macular layer measurement using the inner and outer circles of the ETDRS grid is useful to evaluate different stages of glaucoma. The INL thickening and ONL thinning in advanced glaucoma should be explored in the future studies

The Real-life Experience With Cardiovascular Complications In The First Dose Of Fingolimod For Multiple Sclerosis.

Fingolimod is a new and efficient treatment for multiple sclerosis (MS). The drug administration requires special attention to the first dose, since cardiovascular adverse events can be observed during the initial six hours of fingolimod ingestion. The present study consisted of a review of cardiovascular data on 180 patients with MS receiving the first dose of fingolimod. The rate of bradycardia in these patients was higher than that observed in clinical trials with very strict inclusion criteria for patients. There were less than 10% of cases requiring special attention, but no fatal cases. All but one patient continued the treatment after this initial dose. This is the first report on real-life administration of fingolimod to Brazilian patients with MS, and one of the few studies with these characteristics in the world.72712-