THE BENIGN FORM OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

Abstract

The present paper is a study of three cases presenting the pathological aspect of chronic, non-evolutive multiple sclerosis, corresponding to a clinical picture of benign multiple sclerosis. The first case was discovered at autopsy, the second patient had two subclinical attacks of multiple sclerosis, with a twenty-year evolution (forme fruste), and in the third case the course of the chronic multiple sclerosis ran parallel to that of a cerebral and visceral arteriopathy. Anatomic study of the demyelinating lesions revealed their non-evolutive aspect and the presence within the plaques of lesions of the walls of small vessels with the perivascular adventitial fibrosis. The vascular changes appear to play a primordial role in the lack of evolution of the demyelinating areas, manifested clinically by a stationary, benign picture.