Development of a MS-Network for Children and Adolescents in the Rhine-Ruhr Region

Background/Purpose: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common progressive neurological disease in young to middle adulthood. The realization, that the disease can also manifest itself before adulthood in children and adolescents, however, is rather new. This can result in diagnostic errors, administration of the wrong treatment, and, not uncommonly, in year-long medical odysseys—aside from the special psychosocial strains for the entire family system. Competent, interdisciplinary, and geographically proximate care is therefore urgently required.