Prof. Menno Schoonheim, MD, PhD
Scientific director at MS Center Amsterdam
Department of Anatomy and Neurosciences
Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative disease of the central nervous system. MS is characterized by lesions in the central nervous system, that can be slowed down by immunomodulatory therapies. However, clinical progression in MS is notoriously difficult to grasp and predict, and patients that seem radiologically stable can still worsen over time. Some patient groups even show an acceleration in progression compared to earlier years, especially in so-called progressive MS. This talk will highlight current concepts of looking at MS as a network disorder. As lesions continuously damage the structural pathways in the brain, the brain has to adapt to maintain normal functioning. After a certain point, we believe this damage to become too severe, after which a critical threshold is exceeded of network efficiency loss, leading to progression. This "network collapse" will be outlined, describing combinations of potential beneficial and maladaptive processes, quantifiable with functional and structural network imaging.