Pain in the eye and weakness (145/1700)

A 53yo woman presented with pain in the eye, blurry vision and clumsiness for 3 months. She
has a hx of difficulty in swallowing and weakness in her right upper limb 2y ago. What is the inv
of choice?
a. CSF analysis
b. EEG
c. EMG
d. MRI brain
e. Visual evoked response test



























answer: CT scan, diagnosis: MS



Clinical Features
• symptoms include numbness, visual disturbance (optic neuritis), weakness, spasticity, diplopia
(e.g. INO), impaired gait, vertigo, bladder dysfunction(autonomic dysfunction), cognitive impairment, pain, paraesthesia
• Lhermitte’s sign: flexion of neck causes electric shock sensation down back into limbs
indicating cervical cord lesion
• Uhthoff’s phenomenon: worsening of symptoms (classically optic neuritis) in heat
• SPMS: classically weakness of legs in pyramidal distribution paired with cerebellar findings of
arms (i.e. intention tremor)
• symptoms not commonly found in MS: visual field defects, aphasia, apraxia, progressive hemiparesis
• relapse: acute/subacute onset of clinical dysfunction that peaks from days to weeks, followed by
remission with variable symptom resolution (symptoms must last at least 24 h)

Investigations
• MRI: demyelinating plaques appear as hyperintense lesions on T2 weighted MRI, with active
lesions showing enhancement with gadolinium
• CSF: oligoclonal bands in 90%, increased IgG concentration
• evoked potentials (visual/auditory/somatosensory): delayed but well-preserved wave forms

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