Abstract
Autoimmune disorders of the central nervous system represent a broad group of diseases with a wide variety of clinical presentations. While Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common diagnosis, many other clinically significant diseases fall into this category, such as neuromyelitis optica (NMO), acute disseminated encephalitis, autoimmune encephalitis, and other fairly rare entities.
Correct diagnosis and early therapy is crucial for patient's prognosis. This book is using a format of case studies to illustrate scenarios commonly seen in clinical practice, such as an issue of an incorrect diagnosis or delayed diagnosis of MS, an issue of multiple treatment choices together with description of side effects associated with escalation of treatment, as well as specifics of treating MS in children.
Then, this book focuses on cases of neuromyelitis optica and NMO spectrum disorders (NMO and NMOSD), and a includes a separate chapter devoted to case studies of different rare but often treatable diagnosis of autoimmune encephalitis. The end of the book includes case studies of myasthenia gravis, which is not considered a disease of the central nervous system, but represents a classical model of autoimmune disease mediated by autoantibodies, which is very closely connected with this field.