title: Definition of responder: introduction.
abstract: Availability of multiple disease modifying treatments in multiple sclerosis requires the definition of criteria to classify the response to individual treatments, to open the possibility to substitute a drug with another potentially effective drugs in case of treatment failure or to add a second treatment if the first is classified as partially effective. Because of the large inter and intra-individual variability of the disease evolution such a classification is frequently difficult. Different clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters have been proposed. Measures of disease activity, attacks and active MRI lesions, are ore suitable, particularly in the remitting phase of the disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Institute of Experimental Neurology, Università Vita Salute S. Raffaele, Via Olgettina 48, 20132, Milano, Italy. g.comi@hsr.it
authors.forename: Giancarlo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Comi
mesh_terms: D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000276:immunology*; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000592:standards*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
chemical_list: D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents