The care of patients with secondary progressive (SP) multiple sclerosis (MS) has made a great step forward in the last year in Czech republic as a result of the approval of siponimod as the first disease modifying drug for the treatment of this form of MS. The introduction of this new treatment however increases the importance of early recognition of transition from relapse remitting to SP form of the disease, and of recognizing the active phenotype in patients where the secondary progressive form has already been identified.
Since there is currently no validated biomarker that could be used to distinguish SP MS from relapse remittent form and since the transition to SP form is a gradual process, it is important to know a typical profile of a patient with this form of the disease. Thus, the aim of this article is to familiarize the reader with the widely accepted definition of SP MS and with the known risk factors, typical symptoms, associated biomarkers and prognostic scoring systems.
We also give a brief outline of the current treatment options for this diagnosis.