By: Nathan & James

Our Patient (Totally breaking HIPPA) Name: Helen Weezy F Baby Age: 28 Symptoms: Strange pricks in her hands and feet, fatigue, impaired vision, feels depressed, balance problems. Her symptoms come and go, but she feels fine most of the time.

The Diagnosis Multiple Sclerosis, or MS, has many symptoms. The main indicators include fatigue, weakness, spasticity, balance problems, bladder and bowel problems, numbness, vision loss, tremors and depression. No two patients with MS have the same symptoms, they vary greatly case to case. We concluded Helen had MS based off the numerous similarities with her symptoms and the symptoms of MS.

Prognosis There are two extremes in multiple sclerosis. The first is a “benign” syndrome in which patients have numerous lesions identified on MRI imaging, but have few, if any, symptoms, even decades after their diagnosis. At the opposite end of the spectrum is a condition identified as the Marburg variant of multiple sclerosis, where rapidly progressive symptoms are seen and death may occur after a very short time.

Lesions on Brain

What is MS? Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a potentially debilitating disease in which your body's immune system eats away at the protective sheath (myelin) that covers your nerves. Damage to myelin causes interference in the communication between your brain, spinal cord and other areas of your body. This condition may result in deterioration of the nerves themselves, a process that's not reversible. The future of an MS patient can vary greatly depending on what severity of MS they contract.

How the Brain is affected. As discussed on previous slides, lesions occur on certain parts of the brain. Most symptoms occur depending on the location of the lesion on the brain. For example: an optic nerve lesion may cause blurred vision; a brain stem lesion may cause dizziness or double vision; a spinal cord lesion may cause coordination/balance problems.

Main Lesion Locations The cerebrum and cerebellum- Balance problems, speech problems, coordination, tremors Motor nerve tracts-Muscle weakness, spasticity paralysis, vision problems, bladder, bowel problems Sensory nerve tracts- Altered sensation, numbness, prickling, burning sensation

More Pictures: