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Pharmacopsychiatry 2004; 37: 120-125
DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-832665
General Concepts
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Concepts on Neurological Disease Evolution

R. J. Seitz1
  • 1Department of Neurology, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
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Publication History

Publication Date:
16 November 2004 (online)

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Degenerative neurological diseases evolve progressively with an insidious onset, while relapsing neurological diseases may remit completely or result in progressive deficits. Since the affected systems can be assessed by clinical evaluation and ascribed to disease-specific pathology - today already in vivo using neuroimaging, the mechanisms underlying neurological disease manifestation can also be studied. For the most frequent neurological diseases with a relapsing clinical course, such as multiple sclerosis, brain infarction and epilepsy, it is shown that disease-specific aetiopathogenesis, lesion-specific pathophysiology and unspecific bystanders determine disease manifestation. Nevertheless, prediction of progression or relapse of a neurological disease is poor due to ill-defined relations of molecular genetic markers and disease evolution. Recent research on aetiopathogenesis and pathophysiology providing new perspectives for selective therapeutic interventions and relapse prevention is discussed.

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Prof. Dr. Rüdiger J. Seitz

Department of Neurology

University Hospital Düsseldorf

Moorenstraße 5

40225 Düsseldorf

Phone: +49 211 81 18974

Fax: +49 211 81 18485

Email: seitz@neurologie.uni-duesseldorf.de

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