Multiple Sclerosis

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Multiple Sclerosis

NIH - Medical Encyclopedia Multiple Sclerosis

"Multiple sclerosis (MS) usually affects woman more than men. The disorder most commonly begins between ages 20 and 40, but can strike at any age. The exact cause is not known, but MS is believed to result from damage to the myelin sheath, the protective material which surrounds nerve cells. It is a progressive disease, meaning the damage gets worse over time. Inflammation destroys the myelin, leaving multiple areas of scar tissue (sclerosis). The inflammation occurs when the body's own immune cells attack the nervous system. The inflammation causes nerve impulses to slow down or become blocked, leading to the symptoms of MS. Repeated episodes, or flare ups, of inflammation can occur along any area of the brain and spinal cord."

Highlighted Article

The role of MRI in the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. (Adv Neurol. 2006)

"There is no single test that is diagnostic of MS, including MRI. The lesions detected with MRI are pathologically nonspecific. The principles of MS diagnosis are based on showing dissemination of white matter lesions in space and time. … The first important role for MRI in the diagnosis of MS allows for an early diagnosis of MS … The second important role for MRI in the diagnostic work-up of suspected MS patients is to rule out alternative diagnoses obvious on MRI, such as spinal stenosis and most brain tumors. Characteristic lesions that favor MS include Dawson Fingers, ovoid lesions, corpus callosum lesions, and asymptomatic spinal cord lesions. However, other white matter diseases can have similar appearances on MRI. … MRI evidence plays a supportive role in what is ultimately a clinical diagnosis of MS, in the appropriate clinical situation, and always at the exclusion of alternative diagnoses."

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Multiple Sclerosis

General Information

NEWS:

Breast-Feeding Reduces Risk for Multiple Sclerosis Relapses

Can Breastfeeding Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Relapses?

Corpus Callosum Lesions Predict Future Attacks of Multiple Sclerosis

Epstein-Barr Virus May Be Associated With Progression Of Multiple Sclerosis “Results showed that higher levels of anti-EBV antibody measured at the beginning of the study were associated with an increased loss of gray matter and total brain volume over the three-year follow-up.”

MS Patients Who Smoke Show More Brain Atrophy, More Lesions, Than MS Nonsmokers

Numbers Of People With MS Higher Than Previously Estimated

Pediatric MS Tied to Higher Relapse Rates “People who develop multiple sclerosis before age 18 tend to suffer almost three times the symptom relapses than those who develop the disease in adulthood, a new study says.”

Tips for Living Well With Multiple Sclerosis

Vitamin D helps control MS genes “A UK and Canadian team found that vitamin D helps to control a gene known to increase MS risk, the PLoS Genetics journal reports. It suggests that vitamin D supplements taken during pregnancy and early in life could prevent the disease. … Exactly how the gene-environment interaction alters MS risk is yet to be determined; one explanation could be an effect on the thymus - a part of the immune system which produces T cells to attack invaders such as bacteria and viruses. It is thought that in people who carry the gene variant, a lack of vitamin D during early life might impair the ability of the thymus to delete rogue T cells, which then go on to attack the body, leading to a loss of myelin on the nerve fibres. Co-author, Professor George Ebers, from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, at the University of Oxford, said it had been known for a long time that genes and the environment determine MS risk. "Here we show that the main environmental risk candidate - vitamin D - and the main gene region are directly linked and interact." “

What to Expect With Primary Progressive MS “By definition, everyone with primary progressive MS has an increase in symptoms over time. But the rate of progression varies widely. The proof of this came after researchers followed hundreds of people living with primary progressive MS for more than 20 years. Seven years after their diagnosis, 25% of people with primary progressive MS needed help to walk (for instance, a cane). At the 25-year mark, some people were bed bound -- but a quarter of the participants could still walk without help.“

Why Repair Of Brain's Wiring Fails

ARTICLES:

Multiple Sclerosis: Understanding the Differences in MS

JOURNAL ARTICLES:

Association of a history of varicella virus infection with multiple sclerosis (Clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery 2009) “History of varicella zoster virus (VZV) infection was positive in 42% of controls and 66% of MS cases (p = 0.001). Patients with a history of VZV infection had a threefold risk increase of having MS. Regarding MS subtypes, relapsing-remitting (RR) MS had four times the risk and secondary progressive had a threefold increase in risk when compared with control patients.”

Central pain in multiple sclerosis – Sensory abnormalities (European Journal of Pain 2009) “The results support the general hypothesis that only patients who have lesions affecting the spinothalamo-cortical pathways run the risk of developing central pain.”

Epstein–Barr virus infection is not a characteristic feature of multiple sclerosis brain (Brain 2009) “Our finding that CNS EBV infection was rare in multiple sclerosis brain indicates that EBV infection is unlikely to contribute directly to multiple sclerosis brain pathology in the vast majority of cases.”

Epstein-Barr Virus is Associated with Gray Matter Atrophy in Multiple Sclerosis. (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2009) “CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the presence of anti-EBV antibodies is associated with MRI markers of GM atrophy in MS and with increased loss of brain volume over 3-year follow-up.”

Foreign accent syndrome as a first sign of multiple sclerosis (Multiple Sclerosis 2009)

Sweating impairment in patients with multiple sclerosis (Acta Neurologica Scandinavica 2009)

The causal cascade to multiple sclerosis: a model for MS pathogenesis. (PLoS ONE. 2009)

The Prevalence of Multiple Sclerosis in 3 US Communities (Prev Chronic Dis 2010) “Three-year US age-adjusted prevalence estimates for the study areas varied substantially. The prevalence was lowest (47.2 per 100,000 population) in the Texas study area (33°30' north latitude), intermediate (86.3 per 100,000 population) in the Missouri study area (39°07' north latitude), and highest (109.5 per 100,000 population) in the Ohio study area (41°24' north latitude). The geographic differences remained strong after age-adjustment to the world standard population. The inverse association between UV light exposure and MS prevalence estimates was consistent with this observed latitude gradient. In all 3 areas, MS prevalence was highest among women, people aged 40 to 59 years, and non-Hispanics.”

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