Optic Neuritis and Multiple Sclerosis

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Abstract
Pespite many studies on the rate of conversion of optic neuritis (ON) to multiple sclerosis (MS) the subject remains controversial. There are hardly two studies that have treated the problem in quite the same manner, reflecting the fact that many variables affect the calculated outcome, some beyond the control of individual investigators. Most investigators accept a close relationship since many patients with clinically definite MS have an ON at some point in the course of their disease and many patients with ON have converted to clinically definite MS in follow-up. Frequencies of conversion ranging from 13% to 85% have been reported in the literature.1,2 The longest follow-ups have been in some of the studies with the lowest conversion rates and this has led to isolated ON enjoying a diagnostic status approaching that of a specific disease despite the fact that ON is not a clinical pathologic entity. No