Recommendations for diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis

Translations of the updated article (Basic Kes V, Zavoreo I, Serić V, et al. Recommendations for diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis. Acta Clin Croat. 2012;51:117-35) is published with the permission of the journal Acta Clinica Croatica 

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating neurological disease that most often affects younger people (aged 20-50 years). Approximately 85% of patients suffer from a disease marked by relapses and remission stages (relapsing-remitting form). Guidelines for the management of patients with MS should focus on three main areas: a) the correct diagnosis, b) treatment of relapse, c) long-term preventive treatment, including monitoring of patients, drug dosage adjustment, change of the drug if necessary, and control of the impact of treatment on the disease progression. The diagnosis is made based on clinical and pre-clinical criteria. Special attention is given to the medication for treating disease relapse, preventive medication for long-term treatment and symptomatic therapy. When diagnosing MS one should take into account the differential diagnosis. Therefore, the diagnosis of MS should be based on clinical and radiological diagnostic criteria, analysis of cerebrospinal fluid and evoked potentials. 

Key words:
diagnostic criteria; multiple sclerosis; clinical conditions, signs and symptoms; treatment