Multiple sclerosis and diseases of autoimmune or related origin.

Medical records of three series of clinically probable multiple sclerosis (MS), consisting of 54, 180 and 51 patients, were screened for past or present coexisted disorders in which autoimmune mechanisms are believed to play a role. The comparison showed that idiopathic optic neuritis and chronic retinitis juxtapapillaris were significantly more frequent among MS patients than in control populations. One case of severe periphlebitis retinae and another one of myasthenia gravis-like syndrome were also encountered in MS population but lacked comparable control groups. This is consistent with data suggesting that MS was associated so far with four autoimmune disorders. They either possibly shared with MS common etiopathogenesis (idiopathic optic neuritis, peripheral demyelinating neuropathy), formed extending component of the perivenous inflammatory process (periphlebitis retinae) or belonged to the HLA linkage group (hypocomplementaemia C3).