Oligoclonal Bands = MS?

[Heather1987]

I had an initial diagnosis of Transverse Myelitis and a lesion in T6 /T7 area of spinal cord but nothing in brain. My LP was positive for Oligoclonal Bands. Initial symptoms showed in June as numbness, tingling in both legs and weakness. Hands effected as well but not so bad. I struggled with this for months slowly getting better then developed banding in abdomen and extreme leg weakness. this passed and and again started to feel better then 4 months later developed same symptoms worsening again but right leg weakness worse now. I am going to get high dose IV steroids this week in hope to reduce the inflammation in lesion.
I am wondering if anyone has had a diagnosis of MS with only one lesion , positive LP and 2 relapses?
Neuro says 20% chance of being diagnosed MS in future but for now he is saying it is calling it a clinically Isolate Syndrome.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Heather  

[essdipity]

Hi, Heather. Oligoclonal bands are significant if they appear in the spinal fluid but not in the blood serum, meaning that the disorder is in the central nervous system.  Usually just one band is discounted, and two or more can point to MS. However, there are schools of thought that insist on at least 4 bands.

MS is not the only disease involving these O-bands. Wikipedia lists these others:

Devic's disease
Systemic lupus erythematosus
Neurosarcoidosis
Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis
Subarachnoid haemorrhage
Syphilis
Primary central nervous system lymphoma

Quix has written a lot about CIS turning into MS. Here is a link:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Multiple-Sclerosis/CIS---THE-CLINICALLY-ISOLATED-SYNDROME/show/1138131

ess

[Joe79]

Hello Heather,

There is a great post that quix did recently, titled CIS Clinically Isolated Syndrome.  I think you would be interested if you haven't already read it.  I will see if I can bump it back to the first page, if not I think it is on page three or so.  I hope all goes well for you.  Take care.