There is now evidence that irreversible brain damage accumulates very early in the course of multiple sclerosis. This book reviews the main neurobiological, magnetic resonance imaging, and clinical aspects of the early phases of the dis ease. Mechanisms ofirreversible axonal damage and the role played by the inter action of glia and the axon are highlighted. In contrast to what was believed for a long time, the sufficient availability of oligodendrocyte precursor cells to promote remyelination in acute lesions has now been demonstrated. For reasons not understood, this remyelination process...

In the past few years there have been impressive advances in the implementation of modern MRI techniques for the assessment of MS patients with the ultimate goal to define MRI markers of MS evolution. The authors of this volume not only review these new techniques, such as magnetization transfer (MT) MRI, diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI and proton MR spectroscopy (MRS), that are increasingly being used to monitor MS evolution, but also those, such as functional MRI (fMRI), cell-specific MRI, perfusion MRI, and microscopic imaging with ultra-high field MRI, that are emerging as additional...