Kari Oakes, PA-C

Treatment with Sativex oromucosal spray produces significant reductions in spasticity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) compared with placebo, but researchers reported no significant difference between the two in neurophysiologic measures.

Results from the RADIANCE study show that treatment with the selective S1P1 receptor modulator RPC1063 is associated with significant reductions in GD-enhancing lesions on MRI, as well as new or enlarging T2 lesions, compared with placebo.

Patients treated for two years with a combination of glatiramer acetate and estriol experienced a one-third reduction in relapse rate compared with patients who received glatiramer acetate and placebo.

Patients with multiple sclerosis who received thrice-weekly injections of glatiramer acetate 40 mg/ml reported increased satisfaction with their treatment and experienced lower rates of moderate and severe injections site reactions and other adverse events.

Five-year data from the ENDORSE study shows that patients with multiple sclerosis who continued treatment, or who switched from another medication, experienced improved NEDA outcomes.

Treatment with alemtuzumab was associated with reduced relapse rates and improved MRI outcomes compared to treatment with subcutaneous interferon beta-1a.

Novel drug shown to be more effective than interferon beta-1a in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, but concerns remain over hepatotoxicity, cutaneous reactions, and other adverse events associated with treatment.

A series of nurse-led interventions and patient education, along with titrated drug initiation, were the key components of a successful initiation protocol for patients with multiple sclerosis starting therapy on dimethyl fumarate. The new protocol resulted in fewer discontinuations than the standard initiation protocol.

Teasing out relevant the relationship among risk factors, comorbidities, and migraine is challenging but critical for optimal migraine treatment.

For many migraine sufferers, current strategies to treat headaches, or to prevent their occurrence, are insufficient to ward off the near-daily occurrence of head pain, prompting researchers to investigate methods of pre-emptive migraine treatment.

The clinical challenge of accurate headache diagnosis in the office can be overcome by taking a broad view of the various diagnostic categories of headache.

Boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy saw continued and significant clinical improvement in motor function tests after 96 weeks of administration of investigational drug eteplirsen.

Patient characteristics and preferences and clinician risk tolerance are critically important guideposts in selecting among the various treatment choices for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis.

With several clinical trials already underway, real hope for modifying the disease course of multiple sclerosis may come from strategies to remyelinate damaged neurons and brain cells.

Session at the 2014 AAN annual meeting contrasts a "tiered" treatment strategy that focuses on safety with a "maximal efficacy" approach and offers an in-depth review of the clinical benefits and potential side effects of the current array of treatments for multiple sclerosis.

Phase 2 study results also show infants and children with spinal muscular atrophy treated with ISIS-SMNRx experienced improvements in muscle function scores, setting stage for phase 3 studies later this year.

Two-year data from the phase 3 ADVANCE study of peginterferon beta-1a in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis show that more frequent dosing yields greater improvements, and that treatment with the drug is associated with a reduction in relapse rates, slower disease progression, and fewer T2 lesions compared to placebo.

Treatment with methylprednisolone was associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction in high-risk patients 30 days after bypass surgery.

Trial data presented at ACC.14 showed bariatric surgery was associated with much better long-term glycemic control in obese patients with diabetes compared with standard intensive medical therapy alone.

Trial results presented at ACC.14 demonstrated that treatment with metformin immediately after PCI in non-diabetic patients presenting with acute STEMI does not lead to improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction or other measure of cardiac function.

Darapladib, a novel agent targeting an enzyme known to be associated with increased instability of atherosclerotic plaque, failed to show real-world benefit in a large global trial examining mortality and coronary outcomes.

Results from the CHOICE trial presented at ACC.14 showed the Sapien balloon-expandable valve performed slightly better than the CoreValve self-expanding device according to a composite measure of "device success."

The AleCardio trial was halted early due to safety concerns and lack of efficacy. Investigators reported patients with diabetes and acute coronary syndrome experienced elevated risk of heart failure, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and renal dysfunction with no mitigating cardiovascular benefit.

Study results presented at ACC.14 show treatment with PCSK9 inhibitor evolocumab significantly reduces LDL-cholesterol levels in patients with hypercholesterolemia.

Patients with severe aortic stenosis deemed at high surgical risk who were treated with Medtronic's CoreValve self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve had higher one-year survival rates compared to patients treated with surgical aortic valve replacement.

Study data announced at ACC.14 demonstrate renal denervation does not significantly reduce blood pressure in resistant hypertension, contradicting previous studies showing the benefits of the procedure.

Drawing upon data from a large European study, Andrés Cárdenas, MD, reported an association between hyponatremia and acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) during a poster session at the 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases held November 1-5, 2013, in Washington, DC.

Investigating the association between hyponatremia and cognition in patients with cirrhosis, Jasmohan Bajaj, MD, and colleagues from Virginia Commonwealth University presented results showing reduced brain edema, better quality of life (QOL), and less caregiver burden with the use of the aquaretic tolvaptan.

A novel direct-acting antiviral (DAA) targeting a protein associated with hepatitis C (HCV) also has antiviral activity against HIV-1 and shows benefit in co-infected individuals when added to pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment (PR).

Emerging data from a clinical trial on triple direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy plus ribavirin (RBV) in hepatitis C (HCV) genotype 1 (GT1) patients shows that the low rate of relapse during and after treatment leads to high concordance rates between measurements of sustained viral response (SVR) at 4, 12, and 24 weeks post-treatment.