At this time, there are no symptoms, physical findings or laboratory tests
that can — by themselves — determine if a person has MS. The doctor uses
several strategies to determine if a person meets the MS diagnostic criteria.
In order to make a diagnosis of MS, the physician must:
- Find evidence of damage in at least two separate areas
of the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain, spinal cord
and optic nerves AND
- Find evidence that the damage occurred at two
different points in time AND
- Rule out all other possible diagnoses.
In 2001, the International Panel on the Diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis
updated the criteria to include specific guidelines for using magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI), cerebrospinal
fluid (CSF) analysis, and visual
evoked potentials (EP) to speed the diagnostic process. These tests can be
used to look for a second area of damage in a person who has experienced only
one relapse
(also called an attack or exacerbation) of MS-like symptoms — referred to
as a clinically-isolated
syndrome (CIS). A person with CIS may or may not go on to develop MS. The
criteria (now referred to as The Revised McDonald Criteria)
were further revised in 2005 and again in 2010 to make the process even easier
and more efficient.