Content area
Abstract
Summary
The differential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can present specific challenges in patients from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, eastern Europe, southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific. In these areas, environmental factors, genetic background, and access to medical care can differ substantially from those in North America and western Europe, where multiple sclerosis is most common. Furthermore, multiple sclerosis diagnostic criteria have been developed primarily using data from North America and western Europe. Although some diagnoses mistaken for multiple sclerosis are common regardless of location, a comprehensive approach to the differential diagnosis of multiple sclerosis in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, eastern Europe, southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific regions requires special consideration of diseases that are prevalent in those locations. A collaborative effort has therefore assessed global differences in multiple sclerosis differential diagnoses and proposed recommendations for evaluating patients with suspected multiple sclerosis in regions beyond North America and western Europe.
Details
1 Department of Neurology, Fleni, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Institute of Biological Chemistry and Biophysics, CONICET/University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2 Department of Neurological Sciences, Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA
3 Department of Neurology, Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research, Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, USA
4 Division of Child Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
5 Hospital Santo Tomás, Panama City, Panama; Universidad Interamericana de Panamá, School of Medicine, Panama City, Panama
6 Department of Neurology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
7 Universidad Nacional de Asunción, Centro Nacional de MS -Ministerio de Salud-Hospital IMT, Paraguay
8 Cleveland Clinic Libraries, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
9 Department of Neurology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology, Munich, Germany
10 Cleveland Clinic, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
11 Department of Neurology, National Cancer Center, Goyang, South Korea
12 Departments of Internal Medicine and Community Health Sciences, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
13 Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard University, Boston, USA
14 Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
15 Center for Advanced Neurological Research, KS Hedge Medical Academy, Nitte University, Mangalore, India
16 Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine and Siriraj Neuroimmunology Center, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
17 MS Research Center, Neuroscience Institute, Teheran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
18 Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
19 Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
20 Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China; National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Disorders, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Beijing, China
21 Istanbul University Cerrahpasa, School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Clinical Neuroimmunology Unit and MS Clinic, Istanbul, Türkiye
22 Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore; Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
23 Department of Neurology, Kuala Lumpur Hospital, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
24 Department of Neuroradiology, Charité Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität zu Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
25 Department of Neurology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
26 Neurology Institute, Harley Street Medical Center, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
27 Department of Multiple Sclerosis Therapeutics, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine and Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Center, Southern TOHOKU Research Institute for Neuroscience, Koriyama, Japan