Dietary patterns in clinical subtypes of multiple sclerosis: an exploratory study.

Background: Multiple sclerosis is a neurodegenerative disorder with a wide range in disease course severity. Many factors seem to be implicated in multiple sclerosis disease course, and diet has been suggested to play a role. Because limited data is present in the literature it was investigated whether variations in dietary intake may be related to the severity of the disease course in multiple sclerosis.

Relationship between the extent of T2 lesions and the onset of secondary progression in multiple sclerosis.

Patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) are at risk of converting to a secondary progressive disease course. To assess the relationship between brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and onset of secondary progression, we reanalyzed the initial brain MRI scans of 90 relapsing-remitting MS patients, who were clinically followed up for at least 10 years (median 14 years) after their scan, for the number and volume of T2 lesions, and for two measures of brain atrophy (bicaudate ratio and third ventricle width). The relationship to development of secondary progression was studied with Cox regression models and Kaplan-Meier survival analyses.

Predictive value of clinical characteristics for 'benign' multiple sclerosis.

We studied a cohort of 496 patients who had multiple sclerosis (MS) for at least 10 years. Ten years after disease onset, 151 had benign MS defined as an Extended Disability Status Scale (EDSS) < or =3. Between benign and non-benign patients we compared gender, age at clinical onset, relapsing-remitting or primary progressive, symptoms at onset, recovery from first relapse, time between first and second relapse, number of relapses in the first 5 years, use of immunomodulatory drugs, and EDSS scores at 2, 5 and 10 years.

Benign course in multiple sclerosis: a review.

Since the 1950s, it has been recognized that a subgroup of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients exists that shows little or no progression in the severity of the disease over time. This group is referred to as 'benign' MS. Although a substantial amount of research in MS indicates a multifactorial background in disease severity, to date it is still difficult to predict whether the course will be benign at onset and it is difficult to find factors that influence the course of the disease over time.

Erythrocyte membrane fatty acids in benign and progressive forms of multiple sclerosis.

Background: There is no good explanation why a proportion of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a relatively benign form of the disease. An imbalance between saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (FA) might influence the disease course of MS.

Aim: To assess whether the erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition, which is a biological marker of long term dietary FA consumption, is different between patients with benign and progressive MS.