Multiple Sclerosis, Myasthenia Gravis, and Neuromuscular Diseases

The Henry Ford Neurodegenerative Diseases Center includes national experts in the diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, and neuromuscular diseases. Henry Ford's doctors are among America's leading specialists in multiple sclerosis and myasthenia gravis. Henry Ford's Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Myasthenia Gravis (MG) programs each have been designated as a site for comprehensive care and advanced research for the diseases by the national MS and MG societies, respectively.

More than 1,000 MS patients and up to 400 MG patients are followed each year at Henry Ford Hospital. The Neuromuscular Program is one of the busiest in the country.

Diagnosis

Multiple sclerosis is difficult to diagnose as there is no definitive test to identify the disease. Diagnosis involves thorough neurological examination, medical history and observation of clinical symptoms, brain and spine imaging studies, lumbar puncture test, evoked potential studies, and blood analysis. Advances in MRI have improved the ability to diagnose MS. In addition, three-dimensional visualization and image analysis is being developed for MRI studies of the progression of MS brain lesions.

Myasthenia gravis diagnosis involves thorough neurological examination, blood analysis, nerve conduction studies and other tests. Henry Ford physicians have expertise in single fiber electromyography which only a few other centers in the state provide.

For neuromuscular diseases, Henry Ford is equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation in the Electromyography (EMG) Laboratories. Neurologists perform more than 5,000 studies on patients each year for adult and pediatric patients with a wide spectrum of neuromuscular disease.

The program includes one of only 200 physicians in North America who has the expertise both to perform the muscle biopsy and to diagnose via routine staining, immunohistochemistry, and ultrustructural examination of the biopsied tissue.

The Neuromuscular Diseases Program uses nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to evaluate the bioenergetics of muscle, a study provided by only a few centers in the United States.

A new protocol developed by Henry Ford investigators uses NMR spectroscopy to measure 31P metabolites whose concentration changes reflect the bioenergetics of normal and diseased muscle. The information provided by this noninvasive procedure is vital in evaluating metabolic disorders of the muscle.

Treatment

Treatment for multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis and neuromuscular diseases is based on each individual's condition and symptoms. Treatment may include medications, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling to reduce stress, plasmapheresis, and/or intravenous immune globulin therapy.

Multidisciplinary Team in Neuromuscular Diseases

The Henry Ford Neuromuscular Diseases Program is uniquely suited to evaluate patients with nerve and muscle disorders through a comprehensive care approach that involves the expertise of neurologists, electrophysiologists, neuromuscular pathologists, molecular biologists and rehabilitative services specialists.