Early onset MS under the age of 16: clinical and paraclinical features

Abstract

MS in juvenile patients under the age of 16 occurred in 31 (5%) of our whole MS population of 620 patients in the time from 1975-1991. It does not differ clinically from the disease as observed in 72 patients with later onset MS in respect to symptoms at onset, course, progression rate, rate of relapses and abnormalities in CSF and MRI. However, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting with pleocytosis in CSF during the first episode and development of oligoclonal bands with passage of time may be characteristic in some juvenile patients. The presence of oligoclonal bands and MRI results are of high diagnostic value in this special group of patients.

Multiple sclerosis vs acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in childhood

“…This trend is similar to that evident in three acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and 12 multiple sclerosis patients who were tested: no acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and eight multiple sclerosis patients manifested cerebrospinal fluid positive for oligoclonal bands. The MRI in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis may look similar in terms of diffuse T 2 -weighted hyperintensities, but the location of lesions in multiple sclerosis compared with those in acute disseminated encephalomyelitis may help differentiate these two entities [2,7,[13][14][15]. The location of T 2 -weighted hyperintensities in the present multiple sclerosis patients supports what has been described, given the preferential periventricular (91% vs 50%) and corpus callosum (64% vs 17%) involvement with a greater tendency to spare the cortical gray matter (9% vs 33%) and thalami (18% vs 33%) when compared with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis.…”

Pediatric multiple sclerosis in Venezuela

“…, Arnoldo Soto 3 , Cecilia Montiel Nava 5 Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system and the most common disabling neurological disorder in young adults 1,2 . It is clinically characterized by a variety of neurological signs and symptoms which are attributed to white matter lesions.…”

“…Those lesions are disseminated in time and space. Clinical signs may appear in sudden attacks or be insidious and progressive 3,4 . The diagnosis of pediatric MS has been largely overlooked by pediatricians and pediatric neurologists 5,6 , who have long regarded it as a rare disease.…”

Characteristics of Children and Adolescents With Multiple Sclerosis

“…[9][10][11][12] Greater awareness and interest led to increased publications, including larger case series, reports from single institutions, multicenter studies, and national and population-based surveys. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][13][14][15][16][17] Pediatric-onset MS (pediatric MS) was compared with adult-onset MS in a few publications. 5,7,17,18 However, because pediatric MS is a comparatively rare disorder (frequency of 0.2 to 0.64/100 000), 7,[19][20][21][22] most investigations have been limited by relatively small sample sizes, retrospective data, or both.…”

“…Generally considered a disease of young and middle-aged adults, an estimated 2.7% to 5.4% of all patients with MS experience their first attack before 18 years of age. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Initial descriptions of childhood-onset MS appeared in case reports and small case series. [9][10][11][12] Greater awareness and interest led to increased publications, including larger case series, reports from single institutions, multicenter studies, and national and population-based surveys.…”