Author Of 1 Presentation
P0869 - effectiveness and safety of rituximab in routine clinical practice: a retrospective analysis of mexican patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (ID 507)
Abstract
Background
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, mostly progressive, inflammatory, demyelinating, and neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). There are various phenotypes of the disease, with the phenotype of relapsing-remitting (RR) multiple sclerosis being more frequent up to 85%, followed by the progressive primary and secondary forms with approximately 10%. Currently there is no treatment in the Mexican Social Security Institute for progressive forms, rituximab has been shown to be a useful drug in RR forms, there are no studies demonstrating effectiveness and safety in progressive forms of the disease.
Objectives
To determine the effectiveness and safety of rituximab treatment in patients of the Neurology service with a diagnosis of progressive multiple sclerosis at the Dr. Antonio Fraga Mouret Hospital from January 2010 to January 2019.
Methods
Retrospective, observational, longitudinal cohort study that included patients older than 18 years with diagnoses of primary and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis who had been managed with rituximab, evaluated with the Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS), number of active lesions in MRI as well as the rate of progression before and after the application of rituximab at 12, 18, 24 and more than 24 months after application, using the Wilcoxon signed rank test.
Results
Significant result before and after the application of rituximab on the EDSS scale p = 0.003, as well as with respect to the number of active lesions p = 0.005 and regarding the rate of progression p = 0.001. Adverse effects of infusion with rituximab occurred in 1 patient (1.6%) with recurrent urinary tract infection, 4 patients presented a relapse after administration of rituximab (6.3%), while 60 patients (93.8%) did not present a relapse after rituximab treatment. The EDSS prior to the application of rituximab was found to have a mean of 6.5, compared to the subsequent EDSS 6.0.
Conclusions
Treatment with rituximab significantly improves the evolution of patients diagnosed with progressive primary and secondary multiple sclerosis, showing effectiveness and safety during its application.