Degenerative and demyelinating diseases

The modifier 'degenerative' as applied to diseases of the nervous system defines a group of disorders whose signs and symptoms express the dysfunction or necrosis neurons or their processes. These disorders are heterogeneous in their clinical and pathologic features and are often more dissimilar than alike. The seven entities described are representative of the 'degenerative' type and sufficient to acquaint the student with the scope of this large and very important category of disease.