 |
| Anne H. Cross, M.D., tests the reflexes of
patient David Chapman for a clinical trial. "I like taking care of patients who
have the disease that I study in the laboratory," she says. "And they like it,
too. It gives them hope, and it helps keep me motivated." |
Washington University Sites
MS Center at Washington University School of Medicine and BJC Hospital
Information About MS
The symptoms depend on which nerves have damaged myelin,
and which parts of the body those nerves help control. Symptoms can range from
dizziness to difficulties walking and moving, mood changes, bladder or bowel
dysfunction, or tingling sensations in arms or legs.
In the most common form of MS, people have flare-ups of
neurological symptoms, called exacerbations. The pattern of disease in each
person can be different. MS can progress gradually and progressively, or have
reversals and remissions. Exacerbations may be followed by partial or complete
recovery.
Most people with MS have a normal, or close to normal life
expectancy. Most people with MS do not become severely disabled.
While we
don’t know for sure what causes MS, it is currently believed to be an abnormal
response of the body’s immune system, which attack’s the body’s own myelin.
Researchers are investigating whether genetic susceptibility plays a role, and
whether environmental features, such as chemicals or viruses, might act as
triggers. Some patients find that heat or cold in their daily environment
triggers symptoms.
How is MS diagnosed?
As with some other neurological diseases, no single test
determines whether you have MS. A doctor
will perform a complete examination
of neurological function, and brain scans. The two signs that indicate MS are
nerve damage in many areas of the body, and repeated exacerbations. Since
symptoms can come and go, and since they can resemble symptoms of other
conditions, diagnosis of MS can sometimes be slow. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a
disease in which myelin, a sheath of fatty tissue around the nerves that
insulates them and helps them conduct electrical signals, becomes damaged, lost
or scarred (sclerotic) in many places.
The symptoms depend on which
nerves have damaged myelin, and which parts of the body those nerves help
control. Symptoms can range from dizziness to difficulties walking and moving,
mood changes, bladder or bowel dysfunction, or tingling sensations in arms or
legs.
In the most common form of MS, people have flare-ups of
neurological symptoms, called exacerbations. The pattern of disease in each
person can
be different. MS can progress gradually and progressively, or have
reversals and remissions. Exacerbations may be followed by partial or complete
recovery.
Most people with MS have a normal, or close to normal life
expectancy. Most people with MS do not become severely disabled.
While we
don’t know for sure what causes MS, it is currently believed to be an abnormal
response of the body’s immune system, which attack’s the body’s own myelin.
Researchers are investigating whether genetic susceptibility plays a role, and
whether environmental features, such as chemicals
or viruses, might act as
triggers. Some patients find that heat or cold in their daily environment
triggers symptoms.
What are some research directions in MS?
Multiple resonance imaging (MRI) has enabled researchers to observe plaques
or lesions in the brains of some (but not all) MS patients since it was
introduced in the early 1990’s. In August 2006, a team of Dutch researchers used
a new brain mapping technique called T1 to observe subtle changes in the brains
of MS patients not observable by previous imaging techniques. Scientists hope
that T1 imaging may become a more precise diagnostic tool for MS.
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