CNS Involvement

A brief, and not entirely accurate, lesson on the nervous system. The nervous system is composed of two main parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system. The CNS is composed of the brain, the spinal cord, the optic nerve, and the olfactory nerve. The peripheral nervous system is composed of everything else. Your head has both CNS- and PNS-type nerves. The CNS-type nerves are obvious. The PNS-type nerves are ten of the twelve cranial nerves. Several of these nerves control eye movement, including movement of the iris and lens. Another is the auditory nerve, and so on.

Dawn, it might be possible that Kevin’s headaches are from nerve control of the vascular system (vasoconstriction), which could be related to PNS-type nerves as much as CNS-type nerves. In other words, just because he has headaches does not mean necessarily CNS involvement.

Judi, I do not remember there being any doctor stating at the recent symposium that there was CNS involvement in GBS. When you say Neurology, do you mean the medical journal [I]Neurology[/I] or neurology as a field? If the former, it should be possible for you to find the article. If the latter, my notes of the general sessions of the symposium do not have any indication of such a (implied) consensus.

CellCept has been associated with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a demyelinating disease of the brain. This disease is caused by a virus known as the JC virus, latent in 80% of adults. It is activated by unknown factors. As of July 2008, Roche, the maker of CellCept, had 17 confirmed or potential cases of PML in its database, according to a Medscape Alert. The association with PML is the only CNS involvement I have been able to find for CellCept.

MarkEns