|
|
|
|
|
|||||
Cash Counts makingcontact.org
Subscribe to the Contact a Family Directory 
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
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.
