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Spectrum and classification of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system

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Abstract

The aim of this review is to highlight recent observations concerning the pathogenesis of acute and chronic inflammatory demyelinating diseases in the central nervous system. Without attempting to provide a didactic classification or a complete survey, we emphasize the discriminative nature of new clinical, imaging, and immunopathologic data, which, even in the absence of specific molecular markers, modify our views about the nosologic relations among these overlapping clinicopathologic entities. In the light of new findings, multiple sclerosis may represent a spectrum of demyelinating diseases rather than a single entity.

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  1. Department of Neurology, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, 1 Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1137, 10029-6574, New York, NY, USA

    Bernadette Kalman MD, PhD & Fred D. Lublin MD

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  1. Bernadette Kalman MD, PhD
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  2. Fred D. Lublin MD
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Kalman, B., Lublin, F.D. Spectrum and classification of inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep 1, 249–256 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11910-001-0027-5

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