Aphasia as a rare presentation of monosymptomatic demyelinating disease: case report and review of the literature

Clinical characteristics of cortical multiple sclerosis

There are several articles in this special issue in which authors eloquently describe neurobehavioural and cognitive complications of multiple sclerosis with relevant neuropsychological assessments and neuroimaging findings. However behavioural and cognitive presentation of multiple sclerosis remains poorly understood. Two years ago, we reported a series of patients with multiple sclerosis who presented with neurobehavioural symptoms and had neuropsychological deficits consistent with cortical dysfunction. Based on previous case reports, pathological studies of cerebral cortex in multiple sclerosis and advanced neuroimaging studies we suggested that neurobehavioural presentation of multiple sclerosis represents a new variant called "cortical multiple sclerosis". The condition is characterised by predominant or exclusive cortical pathology presenting with neurobehavioural symptoms, such as depression, amnesia or distinct cortical syndromes. Since the publication of our report, there has been further neuroimaging and neuropathological findings that further supported the above concept. In addition, observation of more patients with this condition helped us to formulate a logical approach in the detection of these patients. This article focuses on their clinical characteristics.

Sudden onset aphasic hemiplegia: an unusual manifestation of disseminated encephalomyelitis

The association of the sudden onset of aphasia with hemiplegia, hemisenosry defect, and facial palsy, with MRI evidence of white matter lesions, requires differentiation between multiple sclerosis (MS) and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM). We have observed eight patients with such a syndrome, all of whom were originally diagnosed as multiple sclerosis, but who, on closer examination, turned out to be instances of disseminated encephalomyelitis. The patterns of demyelination seen in T2-weighted MRI are quite different in both conditions. In two of our patients, MRI reverted to normal after the treatment; in others, the images remained unchanged. A review of the reported cases of multiple sclerosis presenting with the acute onset of aphasia, reveals that the majority of them are, in reality, instances of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis with a much better prognosis. Most of these cases are monophasic and immunomodulatory treatment is inappropriate.