Clinical and MRI outcome after autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in MS.

The authors report the outcome of 14 patients with severe multiple sclerosis treated with autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) after a median follow-up period of 3 years. The 3-year actuarial probability of progression-free survival was 85.7% and that of disease activity-free survival was 46.4%. On MRI, no T1-enhanced lesions were detected after AHSCT. The mean change in T2 lesion volume from baseline to the third year was -20.2% and that of the corpus callosum area was -12.7%; 50% of this reduction was seen during the first year.