Acta Neurol Scand. 2003 Nov;108(5):319-22
Haghighi S, Frisen L, Oden A, Andersen O.
Institute of Clinical Neurosience, Sahlgrenska University Hospital,
Goteborg, Sweden
OBJECTIVE:
In a previous study, we found that nine of the 47 siblings to multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with a normal neurologic examination carry an intrathecal oligoclonal immunopathy with limited specificity, a condition we termed MS immunopathic trait.
Here we searched for neurological dysfunction with increased sensitivity.
METHOD:
We used high-pass resolution perimetry, which reveals visual pathway lesions by their impaired neural effective capacity (EC) in early MS cases even without optic neuritis.
RESULTS:
These nine individuals with MS immunopathic trait did not differ from nine healthy controls with normal cerebrospinal fluid regarding their EC.
CONCLUSION:
This is further evidence that a group of MS immunopathic trait individuals, siblings to MS patients, are essentially free from the central nervous system functional loss typically found in MS.