Association between clinical characteristics, acute steroid treatment and oligoclonal bands result in multiple sclerosis: A retrospective study

Background Detection of oligoclonal bands (OCBs) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is important for diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS). Previous studies reported that treatment with intravenous methylprednisolone (IVMP) before lumber puncture (LP) could suppress OCBs production. The aim of this study was to assess whether IVMP initiation prior to CSF collection affects OCBs results in patients with an acute demyelinating event. Additionally, we examined which clinical characteristics are associated with the presence of OCBs in the CSF. Methods We retrospectively evaluated patients admitted to the neurology department at Rabin Medical Center (RMC) between 2010 and 2022 who underwent LP with OCBs analysis as part of their demyelinating attack workup. Patients were divided into OCB-positive and OCB-negative groups and demographical and clinical characteristics (including timing and duration of acute steroid treatment and history of prior demyelinating attacks) were analyzed for association with OCBs results. Results A total of 342 patients were included with a median age of 35 years (IQR, 27-46). Two hundred thirty-eight (69.6%) were OCB-positive. Initiation of IVMP before LP was not associated with negative OCBs (11.8% Vs. 13.5%, P=0.721), nor was it correlated with OCBs positivity (OR=0.86, P=0.66). CSF cell count was higher in OCB-positive patients (5 Vs. 3, P=0.001), and a history of prior demyelinating attacks was associated with- (33.6% Vs. 20.2%, P=0.014) and predictive of OCBs positivity (OR=2, P=0.013). Conclusions Timing of steroids was not associated with OCB positivity. However, pleocytosis and a prior attack were associated with OCB positivity in this cohort. Our results suggest that steroid treatment is unlikely to affect OCBs results. Ideally, larger prospective studies would be needed to confirm our observations.