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Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis

Background

Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis: ADEM

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a condition that occurs mostly in children. The brain consists of grey and white matter. ADEM affects mostly the white matter (WM), which consists of nerve fibres wrapped in a nerve sheath called myelin. Myelin acts as a layer of insulation surrounding the nerve and like plastic sheeting round an electrical wire, it helps to conduct signals between nerve cells in the brain. As myelin is destroyed in ADEM, it is also referred to as an ‘acute demyelinating condition’. This needs to be distinguished from multiple sclerosis (MS), which is also a demyelinating condition but with different criteria for its diagnosis. In brief, ADEM is mostly a one off event (known as monophasic) whilst MS consists of recurrent episodes of demyelination.

What are the symptoms? View What are the symptoms?

Medical text written by October 2010 by Leena D Mewasingh, Consultant Paediatric Neurologist and Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer, St Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK.

 

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