Multiple sclerosis mimics.

Even with all the newer diagnostic tools, including MRI with multiple sequences, evoked potentials, CSF studies, and so forth, multiple sclerosis remains a clinical diagnosis. In the past it was, to a large extent, a wastebasket diagnosis. Since we really could not do much about it, if our diagnosis was wrong it really didn't matter a great deal. Now, with an increasing number of effective therapies and with good therapies for some of the MS mimics, accurate diagnosis is a must. In addition to the cost of treatment, many of the current treatments such as Mitoxantrone (Novantrone) are not benign and we should not subject our patients to unnecessary harmful therapies.