Prognosis in Initial Stage of Disseminated Primary Demyelinating Disease of Central Nervous System

IT IS now generally supposed that the fundamental histopathologic changes are substantially the same in the two diseases multiple sclerosis and disseminated encephalomyelitis, as in other primary demyelinating processes. Variations described by different authors can probably be explained on the basis of the intensity and duration of the pathologic process, and possibly the age and resistance of the patient. The clinical manifestations, likewise, seem to be fundamentally similar, variations being related to the localization of the process, the constitutional makeup of the patient and the intensity of the causative factor. For the purely clinical purpose of this study, one is justified, nevertheless, in preserving the term disseminated encephalomyelitis in referring to the condition which was described by Redlich¹as characterized by a special type of clinical onset, to be discussed later. According to this author, the condition is further characterized by a favorable prognosis save in the rather few