PURPOSE: In the present study we have performed a correlation of the most prevailing clinical conditions of multiple sclerosis (MS) with overall drug response and the grade of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and ten patients were consecutively and prospectively studied with a clinical syndrome of MS, ranging in age from 32 to 65 years of age. In the present study we evaluated the patients with DESD (n = 35), detrusor hyperreflexia (n = 32), and/or low compliance (n = 8). The latter three conditions were considered as the most threatening, and thus a correlation with the drug response and the grade of the disease was attempted. RESULTS: All patients were initially managed in a conservative way avoiding surgical procedures and following primarily pharmacologic treatment, because of the quite common reversibility of MS. Our results suggest that there is no correlation between the prevailing clinical status and drug response (p = 0.06) or grade of the disease (p = 0.07). The only statistically significant correlation was seen between grade of the disease and overall drug response (p < 0.0001) CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic responses were dependent upon the grade of the disease. The continuation of this study recruiting more patients into various subgroups of voiding dysfunction will further validate the statistical correlations among disease grade and therapeutic responses.
PURPOSE: In the present study we have performed a correlation of the most prevailing clinical conditions of multiple sclerosis (MS) with overall drug response and the grade of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and ten patients were consecutively and prospectively studied with a clinical syndrome of MS, ranging in age from 32 to 65 years of age. In the present study we evaluated the patients with DESD (n = 35), detrusor hyperreflexia (n = 32), and/or low compliance (n = 8). The latter three conditions were considered as the most threatening, and thus a correlation with the drug response and the grade of the disease was attempted. RESULTS: All patients were initially managed in a conservative way avoiding surgical procedures and following primarily pharmacologic treatment, because of the quite common reversibility of MS. Our results suggest that there is no correlation between the prevailing clinical status and drug response (p = 0.06) or grade of the disease (p = 0.07). The only statistically significant correlation was seen between grade of the disease and overall drug response (p < 0.0001) CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic responses were dependent upon the grade of the disease. The continuation of this study recruiting more patients into various subgroups of voiding dysfunction will further validate the statistical correlations among disease grade and therapeutic responses.