For patients with active secondary progressive MS (SPMS), autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) slows disease progression compared with other anti-inflammatory disease-modifying therapies (DMT), according to a study published in Neurology. Matilde Inglese, MD, PhD, and colleagues compared the effect of AHSCT with that of DMT on long-term disability worsening in active SPMS. Worsening disability was assessed by the cumulative proportion of patients with a 6-month confirmed disability progression (CDP) according to the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score. Data were included for 79 AHSCT-treated patients and 1,975 patients on other DMT. Time to first CDP was significantly longer in transplanted patients (HR, 0.50). At 5 years, 61.7% of transplant patients were free from CPD. Over 10 years, the EDSS time trend was higher in patients treated with other DMT than AHSCT (+0.157 vs −0.013 EDSS points per year).
