All Topics  
Multiple sclerosis

 
Multiple Sclerosis

   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link






 

Multiple sclerosis



 
 
Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata) is an autoimmune condition
Autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body attacks its own cells....
 in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system
Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that functions to coordinate the activity of all parts of the bodies of multicellular organisms....
, leading to demyelination
Demyelinating disease

A demyelinating disease is any disease of the nervous system in which the myelin sheath of neurons is damaged. This impairs the conduction of signals in the affected nerves, causing impairment in sensation, movement, cognition, or other functions depending on which nerves are involved....
. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in females. It has a prevalence
Prevalence

In epidemiology, the prevalence of a disease in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the disease in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population....
 that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot
Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurology and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ....
.

MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Multiple sclerosis'
Start a new discussion about 'Multiple sclerosis'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Multiple sclerosis (abbreviated MS, also known as disseminated sclerosis or encephalomyelitis disseminata) is an autoimmune condition
Autoimmune disease

Autoimmune diseases arise from an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body. In other words, the body attacks its own cells....
 in which the immune system attacks the central nervous system
Central nervous system

The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that functions to coordinate the activity of all parts of the bodies of multicellular organisms....
, leading to demyelination
Demyelinating disease

A demyelinating disease is any disease of the nervous system in which the myelin sheath of neurons is damaged. This impairs the conduction of signals in the affected nerves, causing impairment in sensation, movement, cognition, or other functions depending on which nerves are involved....
. Disease onset usually occurs in young adults, and it is more common in females. It has a prevalence
Prevalence

In epidemiology, the prevalence of a disease in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the disease in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population....
 that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000. MS was first described in 1868 by Jean-Martin Charcot
Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurology and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ....
.

MS affects the ability of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord to communicate with each other. Nerve cells communicate by sending electrical signals called action potential
Action potential

An action potential is a self-regenerating wave of electrochemical activity that allows nerve cells to carry a signal over a distance. It is the primary electrical signal generated by nerve cells, and arises from changes in the permeability of the nerve cell's axonal Cell membranes to specific ions....
s down long fibers called axon
Axon

An axon or nerve fiber is a long, slender projectionof a nerve cell, or neuron, that conducts action potentialaway from the neuron's cell body or soma....
s, which are wrapped in an insulating substance called myelin
Myelin

Myelin is an electrically-insulating dielectric material that forms a layer, the myelin sheath. Usually, myelin surrounds only the axon of a neuron....
. In MS, the body's own immune system attacks and damages the myelin. When myelin is lost, the axons can no longer effectively conduct signals. The name multiple sclerosis refers to scars (scleroses – better known as plaques or lesions) in the white matter
White matter

White matter is one of the three main solid components of the central nervous system. White matter tissue of the freshly cut brain appears white to the naked eye because of being composed largely of lipid....
 of the brain and spinal cord, which is mainly composed of myelin. Although much is known about the mechanisms involved in the disease process, the cause remains unknown. Theories include genetics
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
 or infection
Infection

An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. In an infection, the infecting organism seeks to utilize the host resources to multiply ....
s. Different environmental risk factor
Risk factor

A risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Risk factors are Correlation and not necessarily Causality, because correlation does not imply causation....
s have also been found.

Almost any neurological symptom
Symptom

A symptom is a departure from normal function or feeling which is noticed by a patient, indicating the presence of disease or abnormality. A symptom is subjective, observed by the patient, and not measured....
 can appear with the disease, and often progresses to physical
Physical

Physical can mean any of the following things below:* Any entity which are composed of matter and/or energy, as well as the physical property of those entities; and not merely items of thought or belief....
 and cognitive disability
Disability

Disability is a lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm. In reality there is often simply a spectrum of ability. Disability may involve physical impairment such as sense impairment, cognitive impairment or intellectual impairment, mental disorder , or various types of chronic disease....
. MS takes several forms, with new symptoms occurring either in discrete attacks (relapsing forms) or slowly accumulating over time (progressive forms). Between attacks, symptoms may go away completely, but permanent neurological problems often occur, especially as the disease advances.

There is no known cure for MS. Treatments attempt to return function after an attack, prevent new attacks, and prevent disability. MS medications can have adverse effects or be poorly tolerated, and many patients pursue alternative treatments, despite the lack of supporting scientific study. The prognosis
Prognosis

Prognosis is a medicine term denoting the Physician's prediction of how a patient will progress, and whether there is a chance of recovery. This word is often used in medical reports dictating a physician's view on a case....
 is difficult to predict; it depends on the subtype of the disease, the individual patient's disease characteristics, the initial symptoms and the degree of disability the person experiences as time advances. Life expectancy
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
 of patients is nearly the same as that of the unaffected population.

Signs and symptoms


Symptoms of MS usually appear in episodic acute periods of worsening (relapse
Relapse

A relapse occurs when a person is affected again by a condition that affected them in the past. This could be a medical or psychological condition such as Clinical depression, bipolar disorder, multiple sclerosis, cancer or an addiction to a drug abuse....
s, exacerbations, bouts or attacks), in a gradually-progressive deterioration of neurologic function, or in a combination of both.

The most common presentation of MS is the clinically isolated syndrome
Clinically isolated syndrome

A clinically isolated syndrome is an individual's first neurology episode, caused by inflammation or Myelin#Demyelination and Dysmyelination of nerve tissue....
 (CIS). In CIS, a patient has an attack suggestive of demyelination, but does not fulfill the criteria for multiple sclerosis. Only 30 to 70% of persons experiencing CIS later develop MS. The disease usually presents with sensorial (46% of cases), visual (33%), cerebellar (30%) and motor (26%) symptoms. Many rare initial symptoms have also been reported, including aphasia
Aphasia

Aphasia , also known as rhymnasia, is a loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language, due to injury to brain areas specialized for these functions, such as Broca's area, which governs language production, or Wernicke's area, which governs the interpretation of language....
, psychosis
Psychosis

Psychosis , with adjective psychotic, literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatry term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"....
 and epilepsy
Epilepsy

Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizure s. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain....
. Patients first seeking medical attention commonly present with multiple symptoms. The initial signs and symptoms of MS are often transient, mild, and self-limited. These signs and symptoms often do not prompt a person to seek medical attention and are sometimes identified only retrospectively once the diagnosis of MS has been made. Cases of MS are sometimes incidentally identified during neurological examinations performed for other causes. Such cases are referred to as subclinical MS.

The person with MS can suffer almost any neurological symptom or sign, including changes in sensation (hypoesthesia
Hypoesthesia

Hypoesthesia refers to a reduced sense of touch or sensation, or a partial loss of sensitivity to Sensory receptor....
s and paraesthesias), muscle weakness, muscle spasms, or difficulty in moving; difficulties with coordination and balance (ataxia
Ataxia

Ataxia is a neurology sign and symptom consisting of gross lack of coordination of muscle movements. Ataxia is a non-specific clinical manifestation implying dysfunction of parts of the nervous system that coordinate movement, such as the cerebellum....
); problems in speech (dysarthria
Dysarthria

Dysarthria is a motor speech disorder resulting from Brain damage, characterised by poor articulation . Any of the speech subsystems can be affected....
) or swallowing (dysphagia
Dysphagia

Dysphagia is the medical term for the symptom of difficulty in swallowing. Although classified under "symptoms and signs" in ICD-10, the term is sometimes used as a condition in its own right....
), visual problems (nystagmus, optic neuritis
Optic neuritis

Optic neuritis is the inflammation of the optic nerve that may cause a complete or partial loss of vision....
, or diplopia
Diplopia

Diplopia, commonly known as double vision, is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object. These images may be displaced horizontally, vertically, or diagonally in relation to each other....
), fatigue, acute or chronic pain
Chronic pain

Chronic pain is defined as pain that persists longer than the temporal course of natural healing, associated with a particular type of injury or disease process....
, and bladder and bowel difficulties. Cognitive impairment of varying degrees and emotional symptoms of depression
Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by a pervasive depression , low self-esteem, and anhedonia in normally enjoyable activities....
 or unstable mood
Labile affect

Labile affect or pseudobulbar affect refers to the pathological expression of laughter, crying, or smile. It is also known as emotional lability, pathological laughter and crying, emotional incontinence, or, more recently, involuntary emotional expression disorder ....
 are also common. The main clinical measure of disability progression and symptom severity is the Expanded Disability Status Scale
Expanded Disability Status Scale

The Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale is a method of quantifying disability in multiple sclerosis.The EDSS quantifies disability in eight Functional Systems and allows neurologists to assign a Functional System Score in each of these....
 or EDSS.

Multiple sclerosis relapses are often unpredictable, occurring without warning and without obvious inciting factors. Some attacks, however, are preceded by common triggers. Relapses occur more frequently during spring and summer. Infections such as the common cold, influenza, or gastroenteritis
Gastroenteritis

Gastroenteritis is inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, involving both the stomach and the small intestine and resulting in acute diarrhea....
 increase the risk of relapse. Stress
Stress (medicine)

Stress is a biological term which refers to the consequences of the failure of a human or animal body to respond appropriately to emotional or body threats to the organism, whether actual or imagined....
 may also trigger an attack. Pregnancy may affect susceptibility to relapse, offering protection during the last trimester, for instance. During the first few months after delivery, however, the risk of relapse is increased. Overall, pregnancy does not seem to influence long-term disability. Many potential triggers have been examined and found not to influence MS relapse rates. There is no evidence that vaccination for influenza, hepatitis B, varicella, tetanus
Tetanus

Tetanus, also called lockjaw, is a medical condition characterized by a prolonged contraction of skeletal muscle fibers. The primary symptoms are caused by tetanospasmin, a neurotoxin produced by the Gram-positive, Anaerobic organism Clostridium tetani....
, or tuberculosis
Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a common and often deadly infectious disease caused by mycobacterium, mainly Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect the central nervous system, the lymphatic system, the circulatory system, the genitourinary system, the gastrointestinal system, bones, joints, and even the...
 increases risk of relapse. Physical trauma does not trigger relapses. Exposure to higher than usual ambient temperatures can exacerbate extant symptoms, an effect known as Uhthoff's phenomenon
Uhthoff's phenomenon

Uhthoff's phenomenon is the worsening of neurology symptoms in multiple sclerosis after periods of exercise and increased body heat....
. Uhthoff's phenomenon is not, however, an established relapse trigger.

Disease subtypes


Several subtypes, or patterns of progression, have been described. Subtypes use the past course of the disease in an attempt to predict the future course. They are important not only for prognosis but also for therapeutic decisions. In 1996 the United States National Multiple Sclerosis Society
National Multiple Sclerosis Society

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a United States-based non-profit organization, and its network of chapters nationwide promote research, educate, advocate on issues relating to multiple sclerosis, and organize a wide range of programs, including support for the newly diagnosed and those living with MS....
 standardized four subtype definitions: relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, primary progressive and progressive relapsing.

The relapsing-remitting subtype is characterized by unpredictable relapses followed by periods of months to years of relative quiet (remission
Remission (medicine)

Remission is the state of absence of disease activity in patients with known chronic illness. It is commonly used to refer to absence of active cancer or inflammatory bowel disease....
) with no new signs of disease activity. Deficits suffered during attacks may either resolve or leave sequelae. This describes the initial course of 85–90% of individuals with MS. When deficits always resolve between attacks, this is sometimes referred to as benign
Benign

A benign tumor is a tumor that lacks all three of the malignant properties of a cancer. Thus, by definition, a benign tumor does not grow in an unlimited, aggressive manner, does not invade surrounding tissue , and does not metastasize....
 MS
.

Secondary progressive MS describes those with initial relapsing-remitting MS, who then begin to have progressive neurologic decline between acute attacks without any definite periods of remission. Occasional relapses and minor remissions may appear. The median time between disease onset and conversion from relapsing-remitting to secondary progressive MS is 19 years.

The primary progressive subtype describes the approximately 10–15% of individuals who never have remission after their initial MS symptoms. It is characterized by progression of disability from onset, with no, or only occasional and minor, remissions and improvements. The age of onset for the primary progressive subtype is later than other subtypes.

Progressive relapsing MS describes those individuals who, from onset, have a steady neurologic decline but also suffer clear superimposed attacks. This is the least common of all subtypes.

Cases with non-standard behavior have also been described. Sometimes referred to as borderline forms of multiple sclerosis, these include Devic's disease
Devic's disease

Devic's disease, also known as Devic's syndrome or neuromyelitis optica , is an autoimmune disease, inflammation disorder in which a person's own immune system attacks the optic nerves and spinal cord....
, Balo concentric sclerosis
Balo concentric sclerosis

Balo concentric sclerosis is one of the multiple sclerosis borderline.Balo concentric sclerosis is a demyelinating disease similar to standard multiple sclerosis, but with the particularity that the demyelinated tissues form concentric layers....
, Schilder's diffuse sclerosis
Schilder's disease

Schilder's disease or diffuse myelinoclastic sclerosis is a very infrequent neurodegenerative disease that presents clinically as tumor Multiple sclerosis lesions, that make its diagnosis difficult....
 and Marburg multiple sclerosis
Marburg multiple sclerosis

Marburg multiple sclerosis, also known as malignant, acute, or fulminant multiple sclerosis, is considered one of the multiple sclerosis borderline diseases, which is a collection of diseases classified by some as MS variants and by others as different diseases....
. There is debate whether these are atypical variants of MS or different diseases.

Diagnosis


Multiple sclerosis can be difficult to diagnose since its signs and symptoms may be similar to many other medical problems. Medical organizations have created diagnostic criteria to ease and standardize the diagnostic process for practicing physicians. Historically, the Schumacher and Poser criteria were both popular. Currently, the McDonald criteria
McDonald criteria

The McDonald criteria are diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis. In April 2001 an international panel in association with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society of United States recommended revised diagnostic criteria for ms....
 focus on a demonstration with clinical, laboratory and radiologic data of the dissemination of MS lesions in time and space. A diagnosis cannot be made until other possible conditions have been ruled out
Differential diagnosis

A differential diagnosis is a systematic method used to identify unknowns. This method, essentially a process of elimination, is used by taxonomy to identify living organisms, and by physicians and other qualified healthcare professionals to diagnosis the specific disease in a patient....
 and there is evidence of demyelinating events separated anatomically
Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology that is the consideration of the body plan. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy and plant anatomy ....
 and in time.

Clinical data alone may be sufficient for a diagnosis of MS if an individual has suffered separate episodes of neurologic symptoms characteristic of MS. Since some people seek medical attention after only one attack, other testing may hasten and ease the diagnosis. The most commonly used diagnostic tools are neuroimaging
Neuroimaging

Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly imaging the neuroanatomy, function/pharmacology of the brain....
, analysis of cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid

Cerebrospinal fluid , Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear bodily fluid that occupies the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system around and inside the brain....
 and evoked potential
Evoked potential

An evoked potential is an electrical potential recorded from a human or animal following presentation of a stimulus, as distinct from spontaneous potentials as detected by electroencephalograms or electromyograms....
s. Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging

GaneshMagnetic resonance imaging , or nuclear magnetic resonance imaging , is primarily a medical imaging technique most commonly used in radiology to visualize the structure and function of the body....
 of the brain and spine shows areas of demyelination (lesions or plaques). Gadolinium
Gadolinium

Gadolinium is a chemical element that has the symbol Gd and atomic number 64....
 can be administered intravenously as a contrast to highlight active plaques and, by elimination, demonstrate the existence of historical lesions not associated with symptoms at the moment of the evaluation. Testing of cerebrospinal fluid
Cerebrospinal fluid

Cerebrospinal fluid , Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear bodily fluid that occupies the subarachnoid space and the ventricular system around and inside the brain....
 obtained from a lumbar puncture
Lumbar puncture

In medicine, a lumbar puncture is a diagnostic and at times therapeutic procedure that is performed in order to collect a sample of cerebrospinal fluid for biochemistry, microbiology, and cytology analysis, or occasionally as a treatment to relieve increased intracranial pressure....
 can provide evidence of chronic inflammation
Inflammation

Inflammation is the complex biological response of Blood vessel tissues to harmful stimuli, such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. It is a protective attempt by the organism to remove the injurious stimuli as well as initiate the healing process for the tissue....
 of the central nervous system. The cerebrospinal fluid is tested for oligoclonal band
Oligoclonal band

Oligoclonal bands are bands of immunoglobulins that are seen when a patient's blood plasma or cerebrospinal fluid is analyzed.Two analysis methods are possible....
s, which are an inflammation marker found in 75–85% of people with MS. The nervous system of a person with MS often responds less actively to stimulation of the optic nerve
Optic nerve

The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve II, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain....
 and sensory nerves
Sensory neuron

Sensory neurons or also known as afferent neurons are neurons that are activated by sensory input , and send projections into the central nervous system that convey sensory information to the brain or spinal cord....
 due to demyelination of such pathways. These brain responses can be examined using visual and sensory evoked potentials.

Pathophysiology


MS as an autoimmunological disease

MS is currently believed to be an immune-mediated disorder with an initial trigger, which may have a viral etiology, although this concept has been debated for years and some still oppose it. Damage is believed to be caused by the patient's own immune system. The immune system attacks the nervous system, possibly as a result of exposure to a molecule with a similar structure to one of its own.

Lesions

The name multiple sclerosis refers to the scars (scleroses – better known as plaques or lesions) that form in the nervous system. MS lesions most commonly involve white matter
White matter

White matter is one of the three main solid components of the central nervous system. White matter tissue of the freshly cut brain appears white to the naked eye because of being composed largely of lipid....
 areas close to the ventricles
Ventricular system

The ventricular system is a set of structures in the brain continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord....
 of the cerebellum
Cerebellum

The cerebellum is a region of the brain that plays an important role in the integration of perception, coordination and motoneuron control. In order to coordinate motor control, there are many neural pathways linking the cerebellum with the cerebrum motor cortex and the spinocerebellar tract ....
, brain stem
Brain stem

The brain stem is the lower part of the brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the spinal cord. The brain stem provides the main motor and sensory innervation to the face and neck via the cranial nerves....
, basal ganglia
Basal ganglia

The basal ganglia are a group of Nucleus in the brain interconnected with the cerebral cortex, thalamus and brainstem. Mammalian basal ganglia are associated with a variety of functions: motor control, cognition, emotions, and learning....
 and spinal cord
Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of neuron and glia that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system....
; and the optic nerve
Optic nerve

The optic nerve, also called cranial nerve II, transmits visual information from the retina to the brain....
. The function of white matter cells is to carry signals between grey matter
Grey matter

Grey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of Neuron Soma , neuropil , glial cells and Capillary. Grey matter contains neural cell bodies, in contrast to white matter, which does not and mostly contains myelinated axon tracts....
 areas, where the processing is done, and the rest of the body. The peripheral nervous system
Peripheral nervous system

The peripheral nervous system resides or extends outside the central nervous system , which consists of the brain and spinal cord. The main function of the PNS is to connect the CNS to the limbs and organs....
 is rarely involved.

More specifically, MS destroys oligodendrocyte
Oligodendrocyte

Oligodendrocytes , or oligodendroglia , are a variety of neuroglia. Their main function is the insulation of the axons exclusively in the central nervous system of the higher vertebrates, a function performed by Schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system....
s, the cells responsible for creating and maintaining a fatty layer—known as the myelin
Myelin

Myelin is an electrically-insulating dielectric material that forms a layer, the myelin sheath. Usually, myelin surrounds only the axon of a neuron....
 sheath—which helps the neurons carry electrical
Electricity

Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction....
 signal
Signal (biology)

In biology, a signal or biopotential is an electric quantity , caused by chemical reactions of charged ions. Another use of the term lies in describing the transfer of information between and within cells, as in signal transduction....
s. MS results in a thinning or complete loss of myelin and, as the disease advances, the cutting (transection) of the neuron's extensions or axons. When the myelin is lost, a neuron can no longer effectively conduct electrical signals
Action potential

An action potential is a self-regenerating wave of electrochemical activity that allows nerve cells to carry a signal over a distance. It is the primary electrical signal generated by nerve cells, and arises from changes in the permeability of the nerve cell's axonal Cell membranes to specific ions....
. A repair process, called remyelination
Remyelination

Remyelination is a term for the re-generation of the nerve myelin sheath, damaged in many diseases such as multiple sclerosis and the leukodystrophy....
, takes place in early phases of the disease, but the oligodendrocytes cannot completely rebuild the cell's myelin sheath. Repeated attacks lead to successively fewer effective remyelinations, until a scar-like plaque is built up around the damaged axons. Four different lesion patterns have been described.

Inflammation

Apart from demyelination, the other pathologic hallmark of the disease is inflammation. According to a strictly immunological explanation of MS, the inflammatory process is caused by T cell
T cell

T cells belong to a group of white blood cells known as lymphocytes, and play a central role in cell-mediated immunity. They can be distinguished from other lymphocyte types, such as B cells and natural killer cells by the presence of a special receptor on their cell surface called T cell receptors ....
s, a kind of lymphocyte
Lymphocyte

A lymphocyte is a type of white blood cell in the vertebrate immune system.By their appearance under the light microscope, there are two broad categories of lymphocytes, namely the large granular lymphocytes and the small lymphocytes....
. Lymphocytes are cells that play an important role in the body's defenses. In MS, T cells gain entry into the brain via the blood–brain barrier, a capillary
Capillary

Capillaries are the smallest of a body's blood vessels, measuring 5-10 micrometre in diameter, which connect arterioles and venules, and enable the interchange of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and many other nutrient and waste chemical substances between blood and surrounding tissue s....
 system that should prevent entrance of T cells into the nervous system. The blood–brain barrier is normally not permeable to these types of cells, unless triggered by infection or a virus, which decreases the integrity of the tight junction
Tight junction

Tight junctions, or zonula occludens, are the closely associated areas of two cell whose Cell membranes join together forming a virtually impermeable barrier to fluid....
s forming the barrier. When the blood–brain barrier regains its integrity, usually after infection or virus has cleared, the T cells are trapped inside the brain. The T cells recognize myelin as foreign and attack it as if it were an invading virus. This triggers inflammatory processes, stimulating other immune cells and soluble factors like cytokine
Cytokine

Cytokines are a category of signaling molecules that, like hormones and neurotransmitters, are used extensively in cell communication. They are proteins, peptides or glycoproteins....
s and antibodies. Leaks form in the blood–brain barrier, which in turn cause a number of other damaging effects such as swelling
Edema

File:Oedema.jpgEdema or Oedema , formerly known as dropsy or hydropsy, is an abnormal accumulation of fluid beneath the skin, or in one or more cavities of the body....
, activation of macrophages, and more activation of cytokines and other destructive proteins.

Epidemiology

Ms Risk
Two main measures are used in epidemiological
Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of factors affecting the health and illness of populations, and serves as the foundation and logic of interventions made in the interest of public health and preventive medicine....
 studies: incidence and prevalence. Incidence
Incidence (epidemiology)

Incidence is a measure of the risk of developing some new condition within a specified period of time. Although sometimes loosely expressed simply as the number of new cases during some time period, it is better expressed as a proportion or a rate with a denominator....
 is the number of new cases per unit of person–time at risk (usually number of new cases per thousand person–years); while prevalence
Prevalence

In epidemiology, the prevalence of a disease in a statistical population is defined as the total number of cases of the disease in the population at a given time, or the total number of cases in the population, divided by the number of individuals in the population....
 is the total number of cases of the disease in the population at a given time. Prevalence is known to depend not only on incidence, but also on survival rate and migrations of affected people. MS has a prevalence that ranges between 2 and 150 per 100,000 depending on the country or specific population. Studies on populational and geographical patterns of epidemiological measures have been very common in MS, and have led to the proposal of different etiological
Etiology

Etiology is the study of Causality. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek , aitiologia, "giving a reason for" .The word is most commonly used in medical and philosophical theories, where it is used to refer to the study of why things occur, or even the reasons behind the way that things act, and is used in philosophy, physics, psy...
 (causal) theories.

MS usually appears in adults in their thirties, but it can also appear in children, and the primary progressive subtype is more common in people in their fifties. As with many autoimmune disorders, the disease is more common in women, and the trend may be increasing. In children, the sex ratio may reach three females for each male. In people over fifty, MS affects males and females almost equally.
Lapland Mother Ngm V31 P556
There is a north-to-south gradient in the northern hemisphere and a south-to-north gradient in the southern hemisphere, with MS being much less common in people living near the equator
Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
. Climate
Climate

Climate encompasses the temperatures, humidity, atmospheric pressure, winds, rainfall, atmospheric particle count and numerous other Meteorology elements in a given region over long periods of time, as opposed to the term weather, which refers to current activity of these same elements....
, sunlight
Sunlight

Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectroscopy of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is Filter ed through the Earth's atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon....
 and intake of vitamin D
Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble prohormones, the two major forms of which are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 . The term vitamin D also refers to metabolites and other analogues of these substances....
 have been investigated as possible causes of the disease that could explain this latitude gradient. However, there are important exceptions to the north-south pattern such as incidence and prevalence in the Canary Islands
Canary Islands

The Canary Islands are a Spain archipelago which, in turn, forms one of the Spanish Autonomous Communities and an Outermost Region of the European Union....
 and changes in prevalence rates over time; in general, this trend might be disappearing. This indicates that other factors such as environment or genetics have to be taken into account to explain the origin of MS.

Environmental factors during childhood may play an important role in the development of MS later in life. Several studies of migrants show that if migration occurs before the age of fifteen, the migrant acquires the new region's susceptibility to MS. If migration takes place after age fifteen, the migrant retains the susceptibility of his home country. However, the age–geographical risk for developing multiple sclerosis may span a larger timescale.

Even in regions where MS is common, some ethnic groups are at low risk of developing the disease, including the Samis
Sami people

The S?mi people, are the indigenous people Indigenous peoples of Europe inhabiting S?pmi , which today encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia....
, Turkmen
Turkmen people

The Turkmen are a Turkic people found primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan and Afghanistan and in northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language which is classified as part of the Western Oghuz languages branch of Turkic languages family together with Turkish language, Azerbaijani language, Gagauz language, Salar languag...
, Amerindians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
, Canadian Hutterite
Hutterite

Hutterites are a communal branch of Anabaptists who, like the Amish and Mennonites, trace their roots to the Radical Reformation of the 16th century....
s, Africans, and New Zealand Maoris
Maori

The Maori are the indigenous people Polynesian people of Aotearoa . The group probably arrived in south-western Polynesia in several waves at some time before 1300....
. Scotland appears to have one of the highest rates of MS in the world.

Causes

Epidemiological studies of MS have provided hints on possible causes for the disease. Various theories try to combine the known data into plausible explanations, but none has proved definitive. MS likely occurs as a result of some combination of both environmental and genetic factors.

Genetic factors

MS is not considered a hereditary disease. However, a number of genetic variations
Genetics

Genetics , a discipline of biology, is the science of heredity and Genetic variation in living organisms. The fact that living things inherit traits from their parents has been used since prehistoric times to improve crop plants and animals through selective breeding....
 have been shown to increase the risk of developing the disease.

The risk of acquiring MS is higher in relatives of a person with the disease than in the general population, especially in the case of sibling
Sibling

A sibling is a brother or a sister; that is, any person who shares the same parents.In most societies throughout the world, siblings usually grow up together and spend a good deal of their childhood with each other....
s, parents, and children. In the case of monozygotic twin
Twin

Twins are two offspring resulting from the same pregnancy, usually childbirth in close succession. They can be the same or different sex. Twins can either be monozygotic or dizygotic ....
s, concordance occurs only in about 35% of cases, and half-siblings have a lower risk than full siblings, indicating a polygenic
Quantitative trait locus

Inheritance of quantitative traits or polygenic inheritance refers to the inheritance of a phenotype characteristic that varies in degree and can be attributed to the interactions between two or more genes and their environment....
 origin.

Apart from familial studies, specific gene
Gene

A gene is the basic unit of heredity in a living organism. All living things depend on genes. Genes hold the information to build and maintain their cell and pass genetic trait to offspring....
s have been linked with MS. Differences in the human leukocyte antigen
Human leukocyte antigen

The human leukocyte antigen system is the name of the major histocompatibility complex in humans.The superlocus contains a large number of genes related to immune system function in humans....
 (HLA) system—a group of genes in chromosome
Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in Cell . A chromosome is a single piece of DNA that contains many genes, regulatory sequence and other genetic sequence....
 6
Chromosome 6 (human)

Chromosome 6 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 6 spans more than 170 million base pairs and represents between 5.5 and 6% of the total DNA in cell ....
 that serves as the major histocompatibility complex
Major histocompatibility complex

The major histocompatibility complex is a large genome region or gene family found in most vertebrates. It is the most gene-dense region of the mammalian genome and plays an important role in the immune system, autoimmunity, and reproduction success....
 in humans—increase the probability of suffering MS. Two other genes have been shown to be linked to MS. These are the IL2RA and the IL7RA, subunits of the receptor
Receptor (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a receptor is a protein molecule, embedded in either the plasma membrane or cytoplasm of a cell, to which a mobile signaling molecule may attach....
 for interleukin 2
Interleukin 2

Interleukin-2 is an interleukin, a type of cytokine immune system signaling molecule, that is instrumental in the body's natural response to microbial infection and in discriminating between foreign and self....
 and interleukin 7
Interleukin 7

Interleukin 7 is a hematopoietic growth factor secreted by the stromal cells of the red marrow and thymus. IL-7 stimulates the differentiation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cells into lymphoid progenitor cells and stimulates proliferation of all cells in the lymphoid lineage ....
 respectively. The HLA complex is involved in antigen presentation, which is crucial to the functioning of the immune system
Immune system

An immune system is a collection of biological processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumour cells....
, while mutations in the IL2 and IL7 receptor genes were already known to be associated with diabetes
Diabetes mellitus type 1

Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a form of diabetes mellitus. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that results in destruction of insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas....
 and other autoimmune
Autoimmunity

Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which results in an immune response against its own cells and tissues....
 conditions, supporting the notion that MS is an autoimmune disease. The gene encoding kinesin KIF1B
KIF1B

Kinesin family member 1B, also known as KIF1B, is a human gene.ReferencesFurther reading...
 is the first neuronal expressed gene demonstrated to enhance the risk for the disease. Other studies have linked genes in chromosome 5
Chromosome 5 (human)

Chromosome 5 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. People normally have two copies of this chromosome. Chromosome 5 spans about 181 million base pairs and represents almost 6% of the total DNA in cell ....
 with the disease.

Infectious cause

Genetic susceptibility can explain some of the geographic and epidemiological variations in MS incidence, like the high appearance of the disease among some families or the risk decline with genetic distance, but does not account for other phenomena, such as the changes in risk that occur with migration at an early age.

An explanation for this epidemiology finding could be that some kind of infection, produced by a widespread microbe rather than a rare pathogen, is the origin of the disease. Different hypotheses have elaborated on the mechanism by which this may occur. The hygiene hypothesis proposes that exposure to several infectious agents early in life is protective against MS. MS would be an autoimmune reaction triggered in susceptible individuals by multiple infective microorganism
Microorganism

A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is microscopic . The study of microorganisms is called microbiology, a subject that began with Anton van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of microorganisms in 1675, using a microscope of his own design....
s, with risk increasing with age at infection. The prevalence hypothesis proposes that the disease is due to a pathogen
Pathogen

A pathogen , infectious agent, or germ, is a biological agent that causes disease or illness to its Host .There are several substrates and pathways whereby pathogens can invade a host; the principal pathways have different episodic time frames, but soil contamination has the longest or most persistent potential for harboring...
 more common in regions of high MS prevalence. This pathogen is very common, causing in most individuals an asymptomatic persistent infection. Only in a few cases, and after many years since the original infection, does it bring demyelination. The hygiene hypothesis has received more support than the prevalence hypothesis.

Evidence for viruses as a cause includes the presence of oligoclonal bands in the brain and cerebrospinal fluid of most patients, the association of several viruses with human demyelinating encephalomyelitis
Encephalomyelitis

Encephalomyelitis is a general term for inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, describing a number of disorders:* acute disseminated encephalomyelitis or postinfectious encephalomyelitis, a demyelinating disease of the brain and spinal cord, possibly triggered by vaccination or virus infection;...
, and induction of demyelination in animals through viral infection. Human herpesviruses are a candidate group of viruses linked to MS; Varicella zoster virus
Varicella zoster virus

Varicella zoster virus is one of eight Herpesviridae known to infect humans . It commonly causes chicken-pox in children and both shingles and postherpetic neuralgia in adults....
 has been found at high levels in the cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients, but the most reproduced finding is the reduced risk of having the disease in those who have never been infected by the Epstein-Barr virus. This goes against the hygiene hypothesis, since the non-infected have probably experienced a more hygienic upbringing. Other agents that have also been related with MS are human endogenous retrovirus
Endogenous retrovirus

Endogenous retroviruses are retroviruses derived from ancient infections of germ cells in humans, mammals and other vertebrates; as such their proviruses are inheritance to the next generation and now remain in the genome....
es and Chlamydia pneumoniae.

Non-infectious environmental risk factors

MS is more common in people who live farther from the equator. Decreased sunlight exposure has been linked with a higher risk of MS. Decreased vitamin D
Vitamin D

Vitamin D is a group of fat-soluble prohormones, the two major forms of which are vitamin D2 and vitamin D3 . The term vitamin D also refers to metabolites and other analogues of these substances....
 production and intake has been the main biological mechanism used to explain the higher risk among those less exposed to sun.

Severe stress may also be a risk factor although evidence is weak; parents who lost a child unexpectedly were more likely to develop MS than parents who had not. Smoking
Tobacco smoking

Tobacco smoking is the inhalation of smoke from burned dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant, most often in the form of a cigarette. People may smoke casually for pleasure, habitually to satisfy an addiction to the nicotine present in tobacco and to the act of smoking, or in response to social pressure....
 has also been shown to be an independent risk factor for developing MS. Association with occupational exposures and toxin
Toxin

A toxin is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms. For a toxic substance not produced by living organisms, "toxicant" is the more appropriate term, and "toxics" is an acceptable plural....
s—mainly solvent
Solvent

A solvent is a liquid or gas that dissolves a solid, liquid, or gaseous solute, resulting in a solution.The most common solvent in everyday life is water....
s—has been evaluated, but no clear conclusions have been reached. Vaccinations were also considered as causal factors for the disease; however, most studies show no association between MS and vaccines.

Gout
Gout

Gout is a crystal deposition disease hallmarked by elevated levels of uric acid in the Circulatory system. In this condition, crystals of monosodium urate or uric acid are deposited on the articular cartilage of joints, tendons and surrounding tissues....
 occurs less than would statistically be expected in people with MS, and low levels of uric acid
Uric acid

Uric acid is an organic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen with the formula C5H4N4O3....
 have been found in MS patients as compared to normal individuals. This led to the theory that uric acid, which can protect against oxidative stress
Oxidative stress

Oxidative stress is caused by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or easily repair the resulting damage....
 from substances such as peroxynitrite
Peroxynitrite

Peroxynitrite is the anion with the formula ONOO-. It is an unstable "valence isomer" of nitrate, NO3-, which has the same formula but a different structure....
, protects against MS, although its exact importance remains unknown. Several other possible risk factors, such as diet
Diet

Diet, in relation to food, might mean:* Diet , the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group.* Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake....
 and hormone
Hormone

Hormones are chemicals released by cells that affect cells in other parts of the body. Only a small amount of hormone is required to alter cell metabolism....
 intake, have been investigated; however, more evidence is needed to confirm or refute their relation with the disease.

Although some of these risk factors, including infection, are partly modifiable, only further research—especially clinical trials—will reveal whether their elimination can help prevent MS.

Treatment


Although there is no known cure for multiple sclerosis, several therapies have proven helpful. The primary aims of therapy are returning function after an attack, preventing new attacks, and preventing disability. As with any medical treatment, medications used in the management of MS have several adverse effects
Adverse effect (medicine)

In medicine, an adverse effect is a harmful and undesired effect resulting from a medication or other intervention such as chemotherapy or surgery....
. Alternative treatments
Alternative medicine

The term alternative medicine, as used in the modern western world, encompasses any healing practice "that does not fall within the realm of conventional medicine"....
 are pursued by some patients, despite the shortage of supporting, comparable, replicated scientific study.

Management of acute attacks

During symptomatic attacks, administration of high doses of intravenous
Intravenous therapy

File:Infuuszakjes.jpgIntravenous therapy or IV therapy is the giving of liquid substances directly into a vein. It can be intermittent or continuous; continuous administration is called an intravenous drip....
 corticosteroid
Corticosteroid

Corticosteroids are a class of steroid hormones that are produced in the adrenal cortex. Corticosteroids are involved in a wide range of physiology systems such as stress , immune system and regulation of inflammation, carbohydrate metabolism, protein catabolism, blood electrolyte levels, and behavior....
s, such as methylprednisolone
Methylprednisolone

Methylprednisolone is a synthetic glucocorticoid drug. It is sold in the USA and Canada under the brand names Phocenta, Medrol, Solu-Medrol and Cadista....
, is the routine therapy for acute relapses. The aim of this kind of treatment is to end the attack sooner and leave fewer lasting deficits in the patient. Although generally effective in the short term for relieving symptoms, corticosteroid treatments do not appear to have a significant impact on long-term recovery. Potential side effects include osteoporosis and impaired memory, the latter being reversible.

Disease-modifying treatments

The earliest clinical presentation of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) is the clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). Several studies have shown that treatment with interferon
Interferon

Interferons are natural proteins produced by the cells of the immune system of most vertebrates in response to challenges by foreign agents such as viruses, parasites and tumor cells....
s during an initial attack can decrease the chance that a patient will develop clinical MS.

As of 2007, six disease-modifying treatments have been approved by regulatory agencies of different countries for RRMS. Three are interferons: two formulations of interferon beta-1a
Interferon beta-1a

Interferon beta-1a is a medication in the interferon family used to treat multiple sclerosis . It is produced by mammalian cells while Interferon beta-1b is produced in modified E....
 (trade names Avonex, CinnoVex
CinnoVex

CinnoVex is the trade name of recombinant Interferon beta 1-a, which is manufactured as biosimilar/biogeneric in Iran....
, ReciGen
ReciGen

ReciGen is the trade name of recombinant Interferon beta 1-a, which is manufactured as biosimilar/biogeneric as a liquid biomedicine in Iran....
 and Rebif) and one of interferon beta-1b
Interferon beta-1b

Interferon beta-1b is a medication in the interferon family used to treat the relapsing-remitting and secondary-progressive forms of multiple sclerosis ....
 (U.S. trade name Betaseron, in Europe and Japan Betaferon). A fourth medication is glatiramer acetate
Glatiramer acetate

Glatiramer acetate is the generic name for the drug Copaxone or Copolymer 1, developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. It is an immunomodulator, licensed in much of the world for reduced frequency of relapses in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis....
 (Copaxone). The fifth medication, mitoxantrone
Mitoxantrone

Mitoxantrone is an Anthracenedione antineoplastic agent....
, is an immunosuppressant
Immunosuppressant

An immunosuppressant is a substance that performs immunosuppression of the immune system. They may either be exogenous, as immunosuppressive drugs, or endogenous, as e....
 also used in cancer chemotherapy
Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy, in its most general sense, refers to treatment of disease by chemicals that kill cells, specifically those of micro-organisms or cancer....
, approved only in the USA and largely for secondary progressive MS. The sixth is natalizumab
Natalizumab

Natalizumab is a humanized antibody monoclonal antibody against the cellular adhesion molecule integrin. Natalizumab is used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease....
 (marketed as Tysabri). All six medications are modestly effective at decreasing the number of attacks and slowing progression to disability, although their efficacy rates differ, and studies of their long-term effects are still lacking. Comparisons between immunomodulators (all but mitoxantrone) show that the most effective is natalizumab, both in terms of relapse rate reduction and halting disability progression; it has also been shown to reduce the severity of MS. Mitoxantrone may be the most effective of them all; however, it is generally not considered as a long-term therapy, as its use is limited by severe cardiotoxicity
Cardiotoxicity

Cardiotoxicity is the occurrence of heart muscle damage. The heart becomes weaker and is not as efficient in pumping and therefore circulating blood....
.

The interferons and glatiramer acetate are delivered by frequent injections, varying from once-per-day for glatiramer acetate to once-per-week (but intra-muscular) for Avonex. Natalizumab
Natalizumab

Natalizumab is a humanized antibody monoclonal antibody against the cellular adhesion molecule integrin. Natalizumab is used in the treatment of multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease....
 and mitoxantrone are given by IV infusion at monthly intervals.

Treatment of progressive MS is more difficult than relapsing-remitting MS. Mitoxantrone has shown positive effects in patients with secondary progressive and progressive relapsing courses. It is moderately effective in reducing the progression of the disease and the frequency of relapses in patients in short-term follow-up. No treatment has been proven to modify the course of primary progressive MS.

As with any medical treatment, these treatments have several adverse effects. One of the most common is irritation at the injection site for glatiramer acetate and the interferon treatments. Over time, a visible dent at the injection site, due to the local destruction of fat tissue, known as lipoatrophy
Lipoatrophy

Lipoatrophy is the term describing the localized loss of fat tissue. This may occur as a result of subcutanous injections of insulin in the treatment of diabetes, or from subcutanous injections of Copaxone used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis....
, may develop. Interferons produce symptoms similar to influenza; some patients taking glatiramer experience a post-injection reaction manifested by flushing, chest tightness, heart palpitations, breathlessness, and anxiety, which usually lasts less than thirty minutes. More dangerous are liver damage
Hepatotoxicity

Hepatotoxicity implies chemical-driven liver damage. The liver plays a central role in transforming and clearing chemicals and is susceptible to the toxicity from these agents....
 from interferons and mitoxantrone, the immunosuppressive effects and cardiac toxicity of the latter; and the putative link between natalizumab and some cases of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy
Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy , also known as progressive multifocal leukoencephalitis, is a rare and usually fatal virus disease that is characterized by progressive damage or inflammation of the white matter of the brain at multiple locations ....
.

Management of the effects of MS

Disease-modifying treatments reduce the progression rate of the disease, but do not stop it. As multiple sclerosis progresses, the symptomatology tends to increase. The disease is associated with a variety of symptoms and functional deficits that result in a range of progressive impairments and disability
Disability

Disability is a lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm. In reality there is often simply a spectrum of ability. Disability may involve physical impairment such as sense impairment, cognitive impairment or intellectual impairment, mental disorder , or various types of chronic disease....
. Management of these deficits is therefore very important. Both drug therapy and neurorehabilitation
Neurorehabilitation

Neurorehabilitation is a complex medical process which aims to aid recovery from a nervous system injury, and to minimize and/or compensate for any functional alterations resulting from it....
 have shown to ease the burden of some symptoms, though neither influences disease progression. As for any patient with neurologic deficits, a multidisciplinary approach is key to limiting and overcoming disability; however, there are particular difficulties in specifying a ‘core team’ because people with MS may need help from almost any health profession or service at some point. Similarly, for each symptom there are different treatment options. Treatments should therefore be individualized depending both on the patient and the physician.

Alternative treatments


As with most chronic diseases, alternative treatments are pursued by some patients, despite the shortage of supporting, comparable, replicated scientific study. Examples are dietary
Diet (multiple sclerosis)

The Swank Multiple Sclerosis Diet is a saturated fat diet for the management of Multiple Sclerosis developed by the late Dr. Roy L. Swank,who introduced the diet in 1948....
 regimens, herbal medicine, including the use of medical cannabis
Medical cannabis

Medical cannabis refers to the use of the Cannabis plant as a physician-recommended Cannabis or herbal therapy as well as synthetic THC and cannabinoids....
 to help alleviate symptoms, and hyperbaric oxygenation. The therapeutic practice of martial arts
Martial Arts Therapy

Martial arts Therapy refers to the usage of martial arts as an alternative or complementary therapy for a Disorder . This can include disorders of the Physical disorder or of the Mental disorder....
 such as tai chi
Tai Chi

The term Tai Chi can refer to:* T'ai-chi or Taiji , a concept in Chinese philosophy* Tai chi chuan, a Chinese martial art often shortened to "Tai Chi" or "Taiji" in everyday use...
, relaxation disciplines such as yoga
Yoga

Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in both Buddhism and Hinduism....
, or general exercise seems to mitigate fatigue, but has no effect on cognitive function.

Prognosis

The prognosis
Prognosis

Prognosis is a medicine term denoting the Physician's prediction of how a patient will progress, and whether there is a chance of recovery. This word is often used in medical reports dictating a physician's view on a case....
 (the expected future course of the disease) for a person with multiple sclerosis depends on the subtype of the disease; the individual's sex, age, and initial symptoms; and the degree of disability
Disability

Disability is a lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm. In reality there is often simply a spectrum of ability. Disability may involve physical impairment such as sense impairment, cognitive impairment or intellectual impairment, mental disorder , or various types of chronic disease....
 the person experiences. Female sex, relapsing-remitting subtype, optic neuritis or sensory symptoms at onset, few attacks in the initial years and especially early age at onset, are associated with a better course.

The life expectancy
Life expectancy

Life expectancy is the average number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is the average expected lifespan of an individual. Life expectancy is heavily dependent on the criteria used to select the group....
 of people with MS, at least for earlier years, is nearly the same as that of unaffected people. Almost 40% of patients reach the seventh decade of life. Nevertheless, half of the deaths in people with MS are directly related to the consequences of the disease, while 15% more are due to suicide
Suicide

Suicide is the intentional taking of one's own life. Many dictionaries also note the metaphorical sense of "willful destruction of one's self-interest"....
, a percentage much higher than in the healthy population.

Although most patients lose the ability to walk prior to death, 90% are still capable of independent walking at 10 years from onset, and 75% at 15 years.

History


Medical discovery


The French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot
Jean-Martin Charcot

Jean-Martin Charcot was a French neurology and professor of anatomical pathology. He is known as "the founder of modern neurology" and is "associated with at least 15 medical eponyms", including Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ....
 (1825–1893) was the first person to recognize multiple sclerosis as a distinct disease in 1868. Summarizing previous reports and adding his own clinical and pathological observations, Charcot called the disease sclerose en plaques. The three signs of MS now known as Charcot's triad 1 are nystagmus, intention tremor
Intention tremor

Intention tremor is a dyskinesia disorder consisting of wide tremor during voluntary movements. The tremor worsens when a person is moving. It is the result of dysfunction of the cerebellum, in particular of the cerebellar hemispheres , and is therefore part of the characteristic symptoms of cerebellar ataxia....
, and telegraphic speech
Telegraphic speech

Telegraphic speech, according to linguistics and psychology, is speech during the Critical period#Linguistics of language acquisition in children, which is laconic and efficient....
, though these are not unique to MS. Charcot also observed cognition changes, describing his patients as having a "marked enfeeblement of the memory" and "conceptions that formed slowly".

Prior to Charcot, Robert Carswell (1793–1857), a British professor of pathology
Pathology

Pathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of Organ , tissue , bodily fluids and whole bodies . The term also encompasses the related science study of disease processes, called General pathology....
, and Jean Cruveilhier
Jean Cruveilhier

Jean Cruveilhier was a French anatomist.He was educated at the University of Paris, where in 1825 he succeeded Pierre Augustin B?clard as professor of anatomy....
 (1791–1873), a French professor of pathologic anatomy, had described and illustrated many of the disease's clinical details, but did not identify it as a separate disease.

After Charcot's description, Eugène Devic
Eugène Devic

Eug?ne Devic was a French neurologist who was a native of Lyon. He studied medicine in Lyon under internist L?on Bouveret . Later he was associated with l'H?pital de la Croix-Rousse and l'H?tel-Dieu de Lyon....
 (1858–1930), Jozsef Balo (1895–1979), Paul Ferdinand Schilder
Paul Ferdinand Schilder

Paul Ferdinand Schilder was an Austrian psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, researcher and author of numerous scientific publications. Schilder made considerable contributions towards the inclusion of psychoanalysis in the psychiatric profession and he is considered the progenitor of I-pschology and -- together with Joseph H....
 (1886–1940), and Otto Marburg
Otto Marburg

Dr. Otto Marburg was a doctor who was born in Vienna, Austria....
 (1874–1948) described special cases of the disease.

Historical cases

There are several historical accounts of people who lived before or shortly after the disease was described by Charcot and probably had MS.

A young woman called Halldora, who lived in Iceland
Iceland

Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland , is an island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean between mainland Europe and Greenland....
 around the year 1200, suddenly lost her vision and mobility, but after praying to the saints, recovered them seven days after. Saint Lidwina
Saint Lidwina

Saint Lidwina was a Netherlands saint. At age 14, Lidwina was ice skating when she fell and broke a rib. She never recovered and became progressively invalid for the rest of her life....
 of Schiedam
Schiedam

Media:Nl-Schiedam.ogg is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands and is part of the Rotterdam metropolitan area....
 (1380–1433), a Dutch
Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands is located in North-West Europe, and bordered by the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east....
 nun
Nun

A Nun is a woman who has taken special vows committing her to a religious life. She may be an monasticism who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent....
, may be one of the first clearly identifiable MS patients. From the age of 16 until her death at 53, she suffered intermittent pain, weakness of the legs, and vision loss—symptoms typical of MS. Both cases have led to the proposal of a 'Viking gene' hypothesis for the dissemination of the disease.

Augustus Frederick d'Este (1794–1848), an illegitimate grandson of King George III of Great Britain
George III of the United Kingdom

George III was Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death....
, almost certainly suffered from MS. D'Este left a detailed diary describing his 22 years living with the disease. His diary began in 1822 and ended in 1846, although it remained unknown until 1948. His symptoms began at age 28 with a sudden transient visual loss after the funeral of a friend. During the course of his disease, he developed weakness of the legs, clumsiness of the hands, numbness, dizziness, bladder disturbances, and erectile dysfunction
Erectile dysfunction

Erectile dysfunction is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance....
. In 1844, he began to use a wheelchair. Despite his illness, he kept an optimistic view of life.

Another early account of MS was kept by the British diarist W. N. P. Barbellion
W. N. P. Barbellion

W N P Barbellion was the nom-de-plume of Bruce Frederick Cummings , an English diary who was responsible for The Journal of a Disappointed Man....
, nom-de-plume of Bruce Frederick Cummings (1889–1919), who maintained a detailed log of his diagnosis and struggle with MS. His diary was published in 1919 as The Journal of a Disappointed Man.

Research directions


A number of treatments that may curtail attacks or improve function are under investigation. Some of these treatments involve the combination of drugs that are already in use for multiple sclerosis, such as the joint administration of mitoxantrone
Mitoxantrone

Mitoxantrone is an Anthracenedione antineoplastic agent....
 and glatiramer acetate
Glatiramer acetate

Glatiramer acetate is the generic name for the drug Copaxone or Copolymer 1, developed by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. It is an immunomodulator, licensed in much of the world for reduced frequency of relapses in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis....
 (Copaxone). However, most treatments already in clinical trials involve drugs that are used in other diseases. These are alemtuzumab
Alemtuzumab

Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.Alemtuzumab targets CD52, a protein present on the surface of mature lymphocytes, but not on the stem cells from which these lymphocytes were derived....
 (trade name Campath), daclizumab
Daclizumab

Daclizumab is a therapeutic humanized monoclonal antibody to the alpha subunit of the IL-2 receptor of T cells. It is used to prevent Transplant rejection in organ transplantation, especially in kidney transplants....
 (trade name Zenapax), inosine
Inosine

Inosine is a nucleoside that is formed when hypoxanthine is attached to a ribose ring via a ?-N9-glycosidic bond.Inosine is commonly found in tRNAs and is essential for proper translation of the genetic code in wobble base pairs....
, BG00012, fingolimod, and teriflunomide
Teriflunomide

Teriflunomide is the active metabolite of leflunomide. Like leflunomide, it is used for rheumatoid arthritis. , teriflunomide is investigated in the Phase III clinical trial TEMSO as a medication for multiple sclerosis ....
, the active metabolite of the DMARD leflunomide
Leflunomide

Leflunomide is a medication of the DMARD type, used in active moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. It is a pyrimidine synthesis inhibitor....
. Alemtuzumab performed better than interferon beta-1a in relapsing-remitting MS reducing disability, imaging abnormalities and frequence of relapses, at the cost of increased autoimmunity
Autoimmunity

Autoimmunity is the failure of an organism to recognize its own constituent parts as self, which results in an immune response against its own cells and tissues....
 problems. These included three cases of thrombocytopenic purpura which led to the suspension of the therapy. Other drugs in clinical trials have been designed specifically for MS, such as laquinimod
Laquinimod

Laquinimod is an experimental immunomodulator developed by Active Biotech and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. It is currently investigated as an oral treatment of multiple sclerosis ....
, and Neurovax
Neurovax

Neurovax is a vaccine designed to treat patients with Multiple Sclerosis . Developed by Orchestra Therapeutics, it is currently in phase II clinical trials....
.

Low dose naltrexone
Low dose naltrexone

Low dose naltrexone , where naltrexone is used in doses approximately one-tenth those used for drug/alcohol rehabilitation purposes, is being used as an "Off-label use" treatment for certain immunologically-related disorders....
 has been prescribed off-label for certain autoimmune disorders, including MS, and there is anecdotal evidence of benefit, but only two small clinical trials have been conducted (as on December 2008), one in San Francisco, USA, the other for the primary progressive variety in Milan, Italy.

New diagnostic and evolution evaluation methods are also being investigated. The measurement of antibodies
Antibody

Antibodies are gamma globulin proteins that are found in blood or other bodily fluids of vertebrates, and are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects, such as bacterium and viruses....
 against myelin protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
s such as myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein
Myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein

'Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein' is a glycoprotein believed to be important in the process of myelinization of nerves in the central nervous system ....
 and myelin basic protein
Myelin basic protein

Myelin basic protein is a protein believed to be important in the process of myelin of nerves in the central nervous system .MBP was initially sequencing in 1979 after isolation from myelin cell membranes ....
 could be useful for diagnosis. Optical coherence tomography
Optical coherence tomography

Optical coherence tomography is an optical signal acquisition and processing method allowing extremely high-quality, micrometre-resolution, three-dimensional images from within optical scattering media to be obtained....
 of the eye's retina
Retina

The vertebrate retina is a light sensitive tissue lining the inner surface of the eye. The optics of the eye create an image of the visual world on the retina, which serves much the same function as the film in a camera....
 could be used as a measure of response to medication, axonal degeneration and brain atrophy. Currently there are no clinically established laboratory investigations available that can predict prognosis. However, several promising approaches have been proposed, such as the measurement of a lipid
Lipid

Lipids are broadly defined as any fat-soluble , naturally-occurring molecule, such as fats, oils, waxes, cholesterol, sterols, fat-soluble vitamins , monoglycerides, diglycerides, phospholipids, and others....
-specific immunoglobulin M
Immunoglobulin M

Immunoglobulin M, or IgM for short, is a basic antibody that is present on B cells. It is the primary antibody against ABO blood group system and ABO blood group system antigens on red blood cells....
 as predictor of long-term outcomes.

See also



Further reading

  • Langgartner M, Langgartner I, Drlicek M. . BMJ
    British Medical Journal

    BMJ is an open access medical journal. It is among the most influential and widely read Peer review general academic journals in the field of medicine in the world....
    . 2005 Apr 16;330(7496):885-8. PMID 15831874.


External links

  • of the Cochrane Library
    Cochrane Library

    The Cochrane Library is a collection of databases in medicine and other healthcare specialties provided by the Cochrane Collaboration and other organisations....