The incidence of multiple sclerosis “is growing, especially in women and we are studying why”. Today we talk about diagnosis mainly in the age group between 20 and 40 years, in the midst of sentimental, working and social life. But “there are also cases that begin in childhood: they are from 5 to 10% of all forms of multiple sclerosis and this number is going to increase over time, because today we have also greatly sensitized the pediatric Neuropediatrics and Neurospychiatry, where they arrive. these children”. Not only that: those “forms that manifest late. We are seeing more and more patients who come for the first time at 60-70 years” are also increasing. This is the picture of the disease, traced by the experts during a meeting that was held in Milan after the green light of the Italian drug agency Aifa for the reimbursement of ofatumumab, a highly effective treatment at home, targeted to B cells, indicated for adults. with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (Smrr). New weapons in the arsenal of specialists to be able to ‘target’ therapies more and more and ‘dress’ them tailored to each patient. “Today in Italy there are about 3,400-3,500 new cases per year”, a pace “which has now led to a cohort of about 130 thousand patients” who live with the disease in our country, explains Claudio Gasperini, director of the operating unit complex of Neurology and Neurophysiopathology at the S. Camillo-Forlanini hospital and coordinator of the Group of the Italian Society of Neurology (Sin) for multiple sclerosis. “We are seeing more and more – highlights the specialist – the increase in young people affected by the disease, probably also because the diagnostic criteria have improved, so we too have become better at making diagnoses “. The number of babydiagnoses will also “grow”, analyzes Maria Trojano, full professor of Neurology at the Aldo Moro University of Bari and director of the Neurology and Neurophysiopathology complex operating unit of the University Hospital Policlinico di Bari. children of multiple sclerosis, “it is important that biologically we will perhaps have the possibility of starting therapies really early, not when” the most obvious symptoms of the disease “occur at 30-40 years of age in people who probably had the disease already for 10 Being able to start early will be an advantage in the future “, Trojano reasons. The expert highlights how this of baby patients is a “novelty of the last decade: we are able to diagnose much more the disease than before and we are dedicating a lot of attention to this”. As more and more we see “patients who come to the specialist for the first time at the age of 60-70 with diagnostic criteria that suggest that the disease was probably silent from a clinical point of view, it went on without manifesting itself. patients we are gearing up to understand how to treat them “, says the specialist. Experts try to explain what the discovery of multiple sclerosis means for a young woman or man. “Suddenly the world falls on them, these young people feel they are losing planning. The moment of communicating the diagnosis is essential to make it clear that their dreams are not destroyed, that today we have the opportunity to carry them forward in their lives trying to them achieve their goals “. Empathy is crucial, he highlights. “Being a chronic disease, they are not occasional patients, but people who must be cared for for decades – adds Trojano – a relationship of trust must be created. These patients need to be reassure yourself that a symptom or a disorder they experience one day is not necessarily referable to the disease but may be due to other factors and they need to fully understand, when they start therapy, what are the risks and benefits. Dialogue is essential “and it goes beyond “the dry” piece of paper, “the informed consent being delivered”. It is an aspect that is even more valid when a young woman sits in front of the specialist’s desk. “This is a female disease, with a ratio of 3 to 1 – reiterates the specialist – Young women of childbearing age who also ask how to deal with a possible pregnancy, who want to build a life. There is nothing to prevent planning a pregnancy. With the neurologist it is possible to fit well in the right time the possibility of having a baby.