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What does MS actually mean?
This is simple to answer - multiple means 'many' and sclerosis means 'scarring' - a literal description of the damage that is seen in the brain and spinal cord, but it is not however a diagnosis because it does not indicate a cause for the disease. Why then do specialists insist that there must be more than one area affected?
Multiple means 'many' and sclerosis means 'scarring' - a literal description of the damage that is seen in the brain and spinal cord
This is simply because the first description of the disease, by the French neurologist Charcot over one hundred years ago, as 'la sclerosis en plaques', is translated as 'multiple' sclerosis, implying several symptoms. Yet single attacks - such as optic neuritis or Bell's Palsy are often the first symptoms of MS but many patients never have another, different attack.
However, the brain scanning technique known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), for patients with a single symptom and no evidence of other problems on clinical examination, has shown that about three-quarters of these people already have multiple areas of the brain affected. The patient may never have another, different attack. In these circumstances what can the neurologists say? |
