Cortical Demyelination in MS and Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) are both demyelinating CNS diseases. Prior studies have generally focused on the patterns of demyelination in white matter that are induced by these diseases. However, there has been increasing recognition that demyelination involving the cerebral cortex likely contributes to the pathogenesis and clinical symptomatology of both PML and MS.

In this study the authors provide a detailed pathological comparison of cortical demyelination in MS and PML. They examined postmortem brain material from 13 patients with HIV infection and PML, 4 patients with secondary-progressive MS, 2 patients with HIV encephalopathy, and one control with a non-neurological disease. They class…