title: Spectrum and classification of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system.
abstract: The aim of this review is to highlight recent observations concerning the pathogenesis of acute and chronic inflammatory demyelinating diseases in the central nervous system. Without attempting to provide a didactic classification or a complete survey, we emphasize the discriminative nature of new clinical, imaging, and immunopathologic data, which, even in the absence of specific molecular markers, modify our views about the nosologic relations among these overlapping clinicopathologic entities. In the light of new findings, multiple sclerosis may represent a spectrum of demyelinating diseases rather than a single entity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1137, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kalman
authors.forename: F D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Lublin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000918:Antibody Specificity; D016736:Antiphospholipid Syndrome / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000276:immunology; D001812:Blood-Brain Barrier; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000145:classification* / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000145:classification / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009185:Myelin Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D020721:Nervous System Autoimmune Disease, Experimental / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000473:pathology; D012008:Recurrence; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D001323:Autoantibodies; D009185:Myelin Proteins