Daniel Ontaneda, MD, PhD: The Problem of Misdiagnosis in Multiple Sclerosis

“We calculate that approximately 20% of individuals who are referred to an MS center with a diagnosis of MS actually don’t have the disease.”

One of the hot topics in multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment is the misdiagnosis of the disease. Some estimates suggest that as many as 20% of patients who are given this diagnosis in fact do not have MS, which in turn presents the risk for adverse events from the high-efficacy disease-modifying therapies used to treat the condition—not to mention the high costs of treatment.

At the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ACTRIMS) 2019 Forum in Dallas, Texas, Daniel Ontaneda, MD, and colleagues presented data about this issue and how a new biomarker, the central vein sign, may help differentiate MS from other diseases.

To discuss this challenge with misdiagnosis and how it impacts the clinicians who are treating these patients, the staff neurologist at the Mellen Center for MS at Cleveland Clinic spoke with NeurologyLive in an interview.