Multiple sclerosis: Difference between revisions
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'''Please have patience as I edit this page over the next week! Thank you!'''--[[User:Kirsten Eldredge|Kirsten Eldredge]] 04:06, 21 April 2012 (IDT) | '''Please have patience as I edit this page over the next week! Thank you!'''--[[User:Kirsten Eldredge|Kirsten Eldredge]] 04:06, 21 April 2012 (IDT) | ||
'''Multiple sclerosis (MS)''' - an autoimmune disease that effects every patient differently based on the neurologic lesions found throughout the body. While some can go through their lives with relatively mild symptoms and short periods of relapse, others can become incapacitated within years or even months. Defined by Nylander and Hafler, MS is a "multifocal demyelinating disease with progressive neurodegeneration caused by an autoimmune response to self-antigens in a genetically susceptible individual."<ref name= | '''Multiple sclerosis (MS)''' - an autoimmune disease that effects every patient differently based on the neurologic lesions found throughout the body. While some can go through their lives with relatively mild symptoms and short periods of relapse, others can become incapacitated within years or even months. Defined by Nylander and Hafler, MS is a "multifocal demyelinating disease with progressive neurodegeneration caused by an autoimmune response to self-antigens in a genetically susceptible individual."<ref name='MS Nylander & Hafler'>PMID:22466660</ref> Inflammation is the primary cause of damage in MS, and though the effects of the disease are well known, and various treatments exist for the disease, the exact identity of an antigen or infectious agent that causes the initiation of a myriad of symptoms is unknown.<ref name='MS:Pathogenesis and Treatment'>PMID:22379455</ref> | ||
There are three ways in which MS is categorized: relapsing-remitting (RRMS), secondary progressive (SPMS), and primary progressive (PPMS). In RRMS, the patient experiences periods of time in which the symptoms increase considerably, although the neurological function of the patient usually returns to normal after the episode. Those with SPMS have symptoms like RRMS, but do not return to normal neurological function after the episode, rather they sustain the neurological damage (such as permanently losing the use of an arm). In PPMS, the patient has an initial episode that never ends. That is, once the symptoms begin, there is no remission in the neurological degradation. A constant autoimmune attack on the patient's body causes increasingly severe symptoms, which can sometimes lead to death. | There are three ways in which MS is categorized: relapsing-remitting (RRMS), secondary progressive (SPMS), and primary progressive (PPMS). In RRMS, the patient experiences periods of time in which the symptoms increase considerably, although the neurological function of the patient usually returns to normal after the episode. Those with SPMS have symptoms like RRMS, but do not return to normal neurological function after the episode, rather they sustain the neurological damage (such as permanently losing the use of an arm). In PPMS, the patient has an initial episode that never ends. That is, once the symptoms begin, there is no remission in the neurological degradation. A constant autoimmune attack on the patient's body causes increasingly severe symptoms, which can sometimes lead to death. | ||
