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Aggressive treatment of optic neuritis can delay onset of MS
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Earlier and more aggressive treatment for optic neuritis may reduce permanent axonal injury and progressive disability in patients who develop multiple sclerosis, according to a review of published literature.
Anthony C. Arnold, MD, at the Jules Stein Eye Institute analyzed both his own experience and published evidence supporting the use of corticosteroids, immunomodulation agents and other modalities in the dual treatment of optic neuritis and multiple sclerosis (MS). His review is published in the June issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.
Treating optic neuritis with corticosteroids may hasten visual recovery to a minor degree, he found, but it has no long-term beneficial effect on visual outcome. Optic neuritis is often the first manifestation MS, he noted.
“The risk of later development of clinically definite MS correlates with white matter demyelinative lesions on magnetic resonance imaging,” Dr. Arnold said. The role corticosteroid therapy alone plays is unclear, he said, but the combination of corticosteroids and immunomodulation agents “significantly reduces the later development of MS.”