Conclusions-The Italian version of MSQOL-54 is easy to administer and is well accepted by patients. Neurological impairment has a limited influence on perceived quality of life, while age and depressive symptoms has a major influence. (J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1999;67:158-162)

A clinically isolated syndrome indicating a pathological process involving the cranial nerves or the posterior fossa may constitute a hard diagnostic challenge for the clinician. Whereas internuclear ophthalmoplegia, for example, is almost pathognomonic of multiple sclerosis (MS), other clinical presentations are often puzzling. The main alternative causes of symptoms that may suggest a clinical onset of MS are reviewed here, grouped in principal clinical syndromes, with particular attention to some rare, recently recognised conditions.

Pudendal evoked potentials, motor evoked potentials of the bulbocavernosus muscle to magnetic stimulation and bulbocavernosus reflex were recorded in 34 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Responses were delayed in 26, 20 and 3 cases respectively. No relationship was found between neurophysiological abnormalities and the presence or severity of erectile dysfunction, showing that these tests have little diagnostic usefulness in MS patients with impotence. Nocturnal penile tumescence was assessed in 14 cases: the test result was normal in 10 patients, including 3 severely paraplegic subjects.

No abstract

No abstract