Acquired CNS Demyelinating Syndrome in Children Referred to ShirazPediatric Neurology Ward

OBJECTIVE: Incidence of CNS acquired demyelinating syndrome (ADS), especially multiple sclerosis (MS) in children, appears to be on the rise worldwide. The objective of this study was to determine prevalence, clinical presentation, neuroimaging features, and prognosis of different types of ADS in Iranian children. MATERIALS & METHODS: During the period 2002-2012, all the patients (aged 1-18 years) with ADS, such as MS, acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), optic neurotic (ON), Devic disease, and transverse myelitis (TM), referred to the pediatric neurology ward, Nemazee Hospital, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, were included in this study. Demographic data, clinical signs and symptoms, past and family history, preclinical findings, clinical course, and outcome were obtained. RESULTS: We identified 88 patients with ADS in our center. The most prevalent disease was MS with 36.5% (n=32), followed by AEDM 26.1% (n=31), ON 17% (n=13), TM 15.9% (n=14), and Devic disease 4.5% (n=4). MS, ON, TM were more common among females while ADEM was more common in males. Children with ADEM were significantly younger than those with other types of ADS. Family history was positive in 10% of patients with MS. Previous history of recent infection was considerably seen in cases with ADEM. Clinical presentation and prognosis in this study was in accordance with those in previous studies on children. CONCLUSION: In this study, the most common type of ADS was MS, which was more common in female and older age cases. ADEM was more common in male and younger children. ADEM and ON had the best and Devic disease had the worst prognosis.