Neurológia pre prax 5/2010

Pregnancy and multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune disease that is more common in women and typically has its onset during the childbearing years. That brings to the forefront the issue of pregnancy during the course of this disease. As late as the second half of the twentieth century, women with multiple sclerosis were forbidden to become pregnant because of frequent attacks after the delivery and concerns for subsequent maternal disability. Owing to planned pregnancy and modern therapeutic approaches, the disease can be stabilized even in the period of a major risk, such as the immediate postpartum period and the following six months. Under these circumstances, most women with this disease can become pregnant at present; however, ideally during the stable period of the disease.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, relapse, corticoids, pregnancy, labour, intravenous immunoglobulins, breastfeeding.