Nehir Banaz, PhD – Medical Science Liaison
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system affecting 2.9 million people worldwide. This presentation reviews MS disease courses and focuses on the 2024 revisions of the McDonald diagnostic criteria (Montalban et al., Lancet Neurol 2025). New topographical inclusion of the optic nerve and incorporation of paraclinical biomarkers (central vein sign, paramagnetic rim lesions, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) positivity) enable earlier diagnosis. Notably, the κ free light chain index (≥6.1) is considered interchangeable with oligoclonal bands for defining positive CSF, providing alternatives for demonstrating dissemination in time.