Early onset MS under the age of 16: clinical and paraclinical features.

MS in juvenile patients under the age of 16 occurred in 31 (5%) of our whole MS population of 620 patients in the time from 1975-1991. It does not differ clinically from the disease as observed in 72 patients with later onset MS in respect to symptoms at onset, course, progression rate, rate of relapses and abnormalities in CSF and MRI. However, fever, headache, nausea and vomiting with pleocytosis in CSF during the first episode and development of oligoclonal bands with passage of time may be characteristic in some juvenile patients. The presence of oligoclonal bands and MRI results are of high diagnostic value in this special group of patients.