Demyelination is incorrectly often equated to multiple sclerosis, whereas in reality it is a generic pathological term simply describing, as the word suggests, the loss of normal myelin around axons in the central nervous system. This should be distinguished from dysmyelination where the formation of normal myelin is absent.
On this page:
Primary
Primary demyelinating disorders include:
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central demyelination
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clinically isolated syndrome (CIS)
first symptomatic episode which may or may not progress to MS
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multiple sclerosis (MS)
can only be diagnosed if the McDonald diagnostic criteria (or accepted alternative) are met
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variants include
neuromyelitis optica (Devic disease)
Schilder type (diffuse cerebral sclerosis)
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acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM)
monophasic usually post viral acute demyelination
often considered a secondary form of demyelination
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peripheral demyelination
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acute
Guillain-Barré syndrome and its demyelinating variants
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chronic
chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) and its variants
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Infective
In most cases, toxic and metabolic disease which affect the white matter are considered separately but for the sake of completeness, they are listed below.
Toxic
chemotherapy
Metabolic/genetic
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sometimes classified as leukodystrophies 2
Ischemic
Although not referred to as demyelination, many processes which cause ischemia lead to demyelination:
radiotherapy changes
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