The etiology of multiple sclerosis: a new and extended vascular-ischemic model.

It is hypothesized that multiple sclerosis is a disease of the cerebro-vascular system. The basic defect is visualized as a wound in the CNS due to a focal hypertension of genetically susceptible vessels which results in vascular injury and the initiation of a series of biochemical and physiological events culminating in an ischemic hypoxia leading to demyelination and a secondary damaging process associated with the immune system.