LABORATORY INVESTIGATION OF MULTIPLE-SCLEROSIS

Multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating disease of unknown etiology, is the most common cause of nontraumatic disabling neurologic disease of young and middle-aged adults in the United States. It is also one o f the most difficult illnesses to define and characterize in neurologi c practice. Until recently, neurologists had few laboratory tools to u se in diagnosis. Today, however, technological breakthroughs in neurog enetics and laboratory methodologies are yielding useful assays for th e clinical laboratory. The diagnosis of MS commonly is made on the bas is of established clinical criteria. Although no specific laboratory d iagnostic test exists, abnormalities in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) help support the clinical diagnosis of MS. Careful correlation among labor atory data, clinical history, and imaging studies is necessary. This r eview describes the most common CSF abnormalities. This article is the first in a three-part continuing education series on neurology. Other articles will focus on stroke and neuropathy syndromes and antibodies .