Can MS lesions be on cerebellum?

Although neurologists tend to focus on MS lesions in the cerebral cortex, lesions in the cerebellum may also be important. However, these lesions can be hard to detect, due to the cerebellum’s physical location.

Can MS cause cerebellar ataxia?

People with MS may have one or more of the three types of ataxia: cerebellar, sensory, and vestibular: Cerebellar ataxia is caused by damage to your cerebellum in the back of your brain, above your brainstem and neck.

Does MS cause cerebellar atrophy?

Cerebellar atrophy is more extensive in patients with secondary progressive MS and those with longer disease duration when compared with people who have relapsing–remitting (RR) MS and/or shorter disease duration, and cerebellar atrophy has been shown to correlate with clinical measures of disability.

What are symptoms of cerebellar degeneration?

Symptoms of cerebellar degeneration may include:

  • Balance problems, vertigo or dizziness.
  • Decreased muscle tone (hypotonia).
  • Eye problems, including double vision and involuntary eye movements (nystagmus).
  • Poor muscle coordination in your arms or legs (ataxia).

What causes spinocerebellar degeneration?

Inheritance. This condition is inherited in an autosomal dominant pattern, which means one copy of the altered gene in each cell is sufficient to cause the disorder. An affected person usually inherits the altered gene from one affected parent . However, some people with SCA1 do not have a parent with the disorder.

What part of the brain does multiple sclerosis affect?

MS produces damage in the more heavily myelinated regions of the brain, known as white matter. MS has also been shown to affect the less myelinated regions closer to the surface of the brain, known as cortical gray matter.

Do all MS patients have brain atrophy?

Brain atrophy, the gradual loss of brain volume, is quite extensive in MS, nearly 0.5–1.35% per year, far off the limits of normal aging [5, 6]. It arises early in the course of the disease, accelerates with disease progression [7,8,9,10,11,12] but is attenuated by disease-modifying drugs [13].