Relapsing forms of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis: current concepts of diagnosis and treatment, possible causes of chronic demyelinating process

Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis is an acute autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system, which is traditionally considered as a monophasic demyelinating process that develops mainly in children and adolescents. In recent years, the number of cases of relapsing forms of this disease has increased, however, the etiological and pathogenetic factors of chronic demyelinating process after the onset of the disease have not been sufficiently studied. We searched for publications devoted to relapsing forms of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in the information databases PubMed, Scopus and Mendeley. This article provides an overview of current concepts of the diagnosis and treatment of acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, issues of differential diagnosis with other demyelinating diseases based on the clinical features, neuroimaging findings and specific biomarkers. The literature data on relapsing forms of the disease, prognostic factors of chronic of demyelinating process, including evolution into multiple sclerosis.