How is demyelination diagnosed?
Demyelinating conditions, especially MS and optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, are detectable with MRI scans. MRIs can show demyelination plaques in the brain and nerves, especially those caused by MS. Your healthcare provider may be able to locate plaques or lesions affecting your nervous system.
What is the process of demyelination?
Demyelination can be defined as a process in which the pathological events that lead to the destruction of myelin are directed primarily at myelin sheaths or at cells that form and maintain myelin, whereas axons are relatively spared.
What is demyelination and how it occurs?
Answer From Jerry W. Swanson, M.D. A demyelinating disease is any condition that results in damage to the protective covering (myelin sheath) that surrounds nerve fibers in your brain, optic nerves and spinal cord. When the myelin sheath is damaged, nerve impulses slow or even stop, causing neurological problems.
Can you have demyelination without MS?
Other non-MS demyelinating disorders Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) — A separate disease from MS that shares several clinical features. NMO most often causes visual changes in both eyes and symptoms caused by long lesions in the spinal cord.
What histologic and immunohistochemical techniques are used in the diagnosis of demyelinating disease?
Formalin-fixed paraffin wax-embedded tissue is suitable for most of the other histological and immunohistochemical techniques that are applicable to the diagnosis of demyelinating disease. The main tinctorial and immunohistochemical methods have been described earlier.
How to interpret the pathological findings in demyelination?
Accurate interpretation of the pathological findings in demyelination depends to a large extent on knowing the results of clinical, radiological and other laboratory investigations. This is particularly important when it comes to interpreting and making best diagnostic use of the biopsy material.
What causes demyelination of the skin?
Demyelinating disease. Acquired immune system cells called T-cells are known to be present at the site of lesions. Other immune system cells called macrophages (and possibly mast cells) also contribute to the damage. Vitamin B12 deficiency can cause demyelination.
What is demyelination and how is it treated?
Treatment Demyelination is loss of myelin, a type of fatty tissue that surrounds and protects nerves throughout the body. This condition causes neurological deficits, such as vision changes, weakness, altered sensation, and behavioral or cognitive (thinking) problems.