ACUTE OPTIC NEURITIS IN DEMYELINATING DISEASES OF THE NERVOUS SYSTEM

Abstract

In recent years there has been a great deal of interest shown in the so-called demyelinating diseases of the nervous system. In this category are included disseminated (multiple) sclerosis, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, neuromyelitis optica (Devic's disease) and encephalitis periaxialis diffusa (Schilder's disease). A review of the neurologic literature discloses much that is contradictory and overlapping. The present day identification and classification rest more on clinical differences and slight pathologic variations than on firm etiologic or biologic grounds. It is not impossible that all these conditions are variations of one main entity, and that their clinical differences are due merely to degrees of involvement or to predilection for special tissue. Briefly stated, the current belief is that these diseases are of infectious origin, and that they are probably due to some neurotropic virus which is disseminated by the blood stream or by the cerebrospinal fluid. The common pathologic observations