Dr. John DeLuca
While disease-modifying therapies appear to have little impact on cognitive deficits, a modified approach to learning can make a substantial difference, said Dr. DeLuca, who is also professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at New Jersey Medical School, Newark. Helpful measures include having patients "slow things down" when attempting to learn something, and asking questions to make sure they understand something correctly. MS patients also find that self-testing on new information helps strengthen their encoding. These patients "learn by slowing down and going over material again and again and testing themselves, which has a huge effect," he said in an interview. "It sounds simplistic, but this is the primary intervention."
Dr. Feinstein said that he has received honoraria and grant support from Teva, Merck-Serono, and Bayer. Dr. DeLuca said that he has been a consultant to and received grant support from Biogen and Memen Pharmaceuticlas.