FREE NEJM E-TOC    HOME   |   SUBSCRIBE   |   CURRENT ISSUE   |   PAST ISSUES   |   COLLECTIONS   |   Search Term  Advanced Search

Sign in | Get NEJM's E-Mail Table of Contents — Free | Subscribe

Previous Volume 338:1378-1380 May 7, 1998 Number 19 Next

	Since this article has no abstract, we have provided an extract of the first 100 words of the full text and any section headings.

	Full Text Purchase this article Add to Personal Archive Add to Citation Manager Notify a Friend E-mail When Cited Related Article by Hall, C. D. PubMed Citation

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is an opportunistic demyelinating infection caused by a ubiquitous, usually nonpathogenic papovavirus known as JC virus. The symptoms and characteristic radiologic findings of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy are due to virus-induced lysis of oligodendrocytes, resulting in microscopic foci of myelin breakdown that coalesce to produce increasingly larger lesions.¹ The virus also infects astrocytes, in which morphologic features develop that are suggestive of neoplasia, including mitotic figures and multinucleated forms.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy is a disease of immunosuppressed patients. The disease was initially identified by Aström and colleagues as a rare complication of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and Hodgkin's disease.¹ . . . [Full Text of this Article]

References

HOME  |  SUBSCRIBE  |  SEARCH  |  CURRENT ISSUE  |  PAST ISSUES  |  COLLECTIONS  |  PRIVACY  |  TERMS OF USE  |  HELP  |  beta.nejm.org Comments and questions? Please contact us. The New England Journal of Medicine is owned, published, and copyrighted © 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.