Recommended diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis: Guidelines from the international panel on the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Abstract The International Panel on MS Diagnosis presents revised diagnostic criteria for multiple sclerosis (MS). The focus remains on the objective demonstration of dissemination of lesions in both time and space. Magnetic resonance imaging is integrated with clinical and other paraclinical diagnostic methods. The revised criteria facilitate the diagnosis of MS in patients with a variety of presentations, including “monosymptomatic” disease suggestive of MS, disease with a typical relapsing‐remitting course, and disease with insidious progression, without clear attacks and remissions. Previously used terms such as “clinically definite” and “probable MS” are no longer recommended. The outcome of a diagnostic evaluation is either MS, “possible MS” (for those at risk for MS, but for whom diagnostic evaluation is equivocal), or “not MS.”

Keywords

Affiliated Institutions

• Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Rennes FR
• University of California, Irvine US
• University of Graz AT
• UCL Australia AU
• Mayo Clinic US
• University of Arizona US
• University of Cambridge GB
• The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston US
• Royal College of Physicians GB
• National Multiple Sclerosis Society US
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam NL
• University of British Columbia CA
• Lund University SE
• University of California, San Francisco US
• Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai US
• National Institutes of Health US

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