Neuropsychological, medical and rehabilitative management of persons with multiple sclerosis

Abstract

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic and disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS). The symptoms, progression, and severity of the disease are unpredictable and vary from one person to another. Major symptoms include fatigue, sensory-motor (e.g., visual disturbance, spasticity, locomotion), cognitive (e.g., decreased information processing speed, impaired memory), and psychiatric problems (e.g., depression). Although the etiology is unknown, MS is thought to be an autoimmune disease triggered by a viral or other infectious agent in genetically susceptible individuals. The CNS target of the disease is myelin, although it is now known that other aspects of the CNS such as axonal and gray matter regions are also involved.