Marisa McGinley, DO: Improving Comprehensive MS Care

“We’ve been very focused on those objective tests, which are wonderful and very helpful, but we also need to understand that this patient’s walk time is this—what does that mean they can actually do in their life? How is this impacting their quality of life?”

For physicians and medical professionals treating multiple sclerosis (MS), there are a number of objective measurements which are incredibly helpful in understanding a patient’s disease progression. Although these are useful, patient-reported outcomes have also become an important part of MS care as the field focuses efforts on individualizing care.

At the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in MS (ACTRIMS) Forum in Dallas, Texas, Marisa McGinley, DO, and colleagues spoke about the importance of taking a new, more comprehensive approach toward treating MS. This includes re-examining patient-reported outcomes to better understand the quality of life of patients and how it can affect clinical care. Additionally, she spoke about the need for more universal quantitative MRI measurements to help improve the recognition of clinically significant changes.

To find out more about her and her group’s work, NeurologyLive spoke with the staff neurologist at Cleveland Clinic's Mellen Center in an interview.