Patients, doctors differ about MS diagnosis delivery

A recent survey conducted in Hamburg, Germany revealed that when it comes to delivering a diagnosis of MS, neurologists and patients do not always agree. For instance, 69% of patients but only 24% of doctors believed that MS should be brought up even at the "possible" stage. Half of the patients surveyed felt that not enough time was spent by the physician in explaining the disease, and only half listed their neurologist as their major aid in understanding MS. 52% of patients reported not being told about therapeutic options at the time of diagnosis, although this may gradually change due to recent guidelines about starting immunomodulation early in the disease. Amazingly, 28% of neurologists still do not use the term "multiple sclerosis" when explaining the basis for their patients' symptoms. Overall, it appears that patients want and need more information about their disorder than they are currently getting from their neurologists, and they want it sooner rather than later.