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Implementing the 2017 McDonald criteria for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis

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Abstract

The latest revision of the McDonald criteria for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) was published online in 2017. New features of the criteria, which were designed to facilitate earlier diagnosis of MS, include the recognition of oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid as a possible marker of dissemination of MS pathology in time, the introduction of symptomatic lesions as a parameter to demonstrate spatial or temporal pathology dissemination, and the use of cortical lesions to demonstrate dissemination in space. In this Viewpoint, a panel of world-renowned MS specialists share their personal experiences of the new criteria to date.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Focus Program Translational Neuroscience (FTN) and Immunotherapy (FZI), Rhine Mein Neuroscience Network (rmn2), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    Frauke Zipp

  2. Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, St Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Jiwon Oh

  3. Department of Neurology, Universidade Metropolitana de Santos, Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Yara Dadalti Fragoso

  4. Department of Neurology, University of California–San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Emmanuelle Waubant

Authors
  1. Frauke Zipp
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  2. Jiwon Oh
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  3. Yara Dadalti Fragoso
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  4. Emmanuelle Waubant
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Frauke Zipp, Jiwon Oh, Yara Dadalti Fragoso or Emmanuelle Waubant.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zipp, F., Oh, J., Fragoso, Y.D. et al. Implementing the 2017 McDonald criteria for the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Nat Rev Neurol 15, 441–445 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0194-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0194-0

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