We are delighted to announce that the European Academy of Neurology (EAN), with support from the EAN Scientific Panel on Multiple Sclerosis, has officially endorsed the Radiologically Isolated Syndrome Consortium (RISC) initiative for a worldwide database. This initiative aims to consolidate clinical, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and longitudinal follow-up data from international radiologically isolated syndrome (RIS) cohorts, facilitating collaborative research into the natural history of RIS and factors associated with the development of a first clinical demyelinating event and disability accumulation. A dedicated web page has already been provided for the initiative by ECTRIMS, where every principal investigator will appear officially.
Over the past few years, the RISC has generated highly relevant evidence on the natural history of RIS, particularly the risk of a first clinical demyelinating event and disability accumulation as well as associated prognostic factors, with potential implications for risk stratification, early diagnosis, and timely intervention. The RISC has thereby contributed to the global effort to standardise and update diagnostic criteria for RIS, ensuring consistency and reproducibility across studies.
The first joint international project of the consortium focuses on extracting data to describe the current population and applying the 2023 RISC and the 2024 MS Criteria, converted or not, during the follow-up.
Further priorities of the consortium involve providing methodological support for the planning and implementation of prevention and early-intervention trials, as well as supporting the translation of emerging biomarkers into routine clinical application. Through the use of diverse, multicentre cohorts and fostering international collaboration, the consortium produces robust and broadly applicable evidence that contributes to a stronger scientific basis for the early detection and intervention of multiple sclerosis.
The RISC Core group of investigators include Orhun H. Kantarci, MD (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA), Christine Lebrun-Frènay, MD, PhD (Côte d’Azur University, Nice, France), Darin T. Okuda, MD (The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA), and Aksel Siva, MD (Istanbul University Cerrahpasa School of Medicine, Istanbul, Turkiye).
Prof. Paolo Preziosa and Prof. Ron Milo, Co-chairs of the EAN Scientific Panel on Multiple Sclerosis, believe that “the RISC and its initiative for a worldwide database, is particularly relevant to the EAN’s commitment to brain health, disease prevention, early diagnosis, and timely intervention in neurological disorders, and may contribute substantially to improving knowledge and care in the earliest phases of the multiple sclerosis spectrum”.
Since 2020, leading members of the consortium have been coordinating efforts to promote RISC research, an initiative endorsed by a growing number of leading international organisations, including the French MS Society (SFSEP), the French MS Network for Research (FCRIN4MS), the French MS Observatory (OFSEP), the European Charcot Foundation (ECF), the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS), the International Pediatric MS Study Group, and TRIMS groups, including ECTRIMS, MENACTRIMS, and ACTRIMS. The EAN now joins this distinguished group of endorsing societies.
In the context of this endorsement, the EAN is looking forward to contributing to advancing knowledge and improving care in the earliest phases of the multiple sclerosis spectrum.
