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Elsevier

McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis

  • 5th Edition - August 31, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Authors: Alasdair Coles, Alastair Compston, Ruth Dobson, Benjamin M. Jacobs, Hans Lassmann, Catherine Lubetzki, Maria A. Rocca, Steve Vucic, Brian Weinshenker, V. Wee Yong
  • Language: English

For more than 70 years, McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis has been the gold standard textbook on the science and clinical practice of MS. The 5th Edition of this classic, landmark… Read more

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Description

For more than 70 years, McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis has been the gold standard textbook on the science and clinical practice of MS. The 5th Edition of this classic, landmark text reflects recent advances in this complex field, bringing you up to date with current information on genetics, epidemiology, clinical neurology, pathogenesis, and management of this common neurological disease. Easy to read and abundantly illustrated, this updated reference is a must-have resource for neurologists, neuropathologists, neurophysiologists, researchers, PM&R specialists, and others who can benefit from authoritative, comprehensive coverage of both scientific and clinical aspects of MS.

Key features

  • Discusses recent advances in both diagnosis and management, including improved understanding of MS in childhood and the elderly, anti-MOG disease, treatments of progressive MS, remyelination and neuroprotective therapies, and more
  • Offers authoritative reviews of the current literature, placed in historical context
  • Features more than 550 high-quality illustrations clarifying important scientific and clinical concepts
  • Provides the most authoritative and comprehensive history of the understanding of the disease
  • Uses a remarkably clear presentation to make complicated data easier to understand
  • An eBook version is included with purchase. The eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures and references, with the ability to search, customize your content, make notes and highlights, and have content read aloud. Additional digital ancillary content may publish up to 6 weeks following the publication date

Readership

Neurologists, neuropathologists, neurophysiologists, physical medicine and rehabilitation specialists

Table of contents

SECTION 1: Story and Iconography of Multiple Sclerosis

1. The Concept of Multiple Sclerosis

2. The Pathogenesis and Etiology of Multiple Sclerosis

3. The Person With Multiple Sclerosis: Treatment and Society

4. Telling the Story: Literature and McAlpine’s Multiple Sclerosis

SECTION 2: The Course and Cost of Multiple Sclerosis

5. Distribution of Multiple Sclerosis

6. Natural History of Multiple Sclerosis

SECTION 3: Recognizing and Diagnosing Multiple Sclerosis

7. Diagnosis and Classification of Multiple Sclerosis

8. Symptoms and Signs

9. Imaging Structure

10. Measuring Function

11. Blood and CSF Markers of Damage and Disease Activity

12. Diagnosis and Differential Diagnosis

SECTION 4: The Cause and Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis

13. Genetic Analysis of Multiple Sclerosis

14. Immunology of Multiple Sclerosis

15. Neurobiology of Multiple Sclerosis

16. The Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis: A Pandect

SECTION 5: Treating the Person With Multiple Sclerosis

17. Care of the Person With Multiple Sclerosis

18. The Acute Attack of Multiple Sclerosis and Its Treatment

19. The Treatment of Symptoms in Multiple Sclerosis

20. Disease-Modifying Immunotherapies

21. Reparative Therapies

22. Monitoring Treatment

Product details

  • Edition: 5
  • Latest edition
  • Published: August 31, 2026
  • Language: English

About the authors

AC

Alasdair Coles

Alasdair Coles, Ph.D. is a Professor of Neuroimmunology in the Division of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. Has been doing MS research in Cambridge since 1994. He is also a consultant neurologist. With Alastair Compston, he was very involved in the development of alemtuzumab as a treatment of MS. He is employed as a senior lecturer by Cambridge University and has a small research team managing clinical trials and doing human immunological laboratory work. He does clinical work for two days a week as a consultant neurologist at Addenbrooke’s and Peterborough Hospitals, is one of the medical advisers to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of the UK, and advises several pharmaceutical companies.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Neuroimmunology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge UK

AC

Alastair Compston

Alastair Compston, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Neurology in the Division of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Cambridge. Compston's research focuses on the clinical science of human demyelinating disease including the discovery of genetic risk factors for multiple sclerosis and the introduction of alemtuzumab. Compston was formerly Professor of Neurology at the University of Wales, president of the European Neurological Society and the Association of British Neurologists, and editor of the journal Brain. Compston's work has been recognised by prizes including the Charcot Award; the K-J Zülch Prize; the World Federation of Neurology Medal; the John Dystel Prize; the Richard and Mary Cave Award of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain; the Hughlings Jackson Medal; the Galen Medal; and the Association of British Neurologists Medal. Compston was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2016and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Neurology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

RD

Ruth Dobson

Affiliations and expertise
MBBS, PhD

CL

Catherine Lubetzki

Catherine Lubetzki, MD, PhD, is a professor of neurology at the Pierre and Marie Curie University as well as head of the Department of Neurological Diseases at the Salpêtrière Hospital. She coordinates the Clinical Research Centre for Multiple Sclerosis at Salpêtrière.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Neurology, Pierre and Marie Curie University, head, Department of Neurological Diseases, Salpêtrière Hospital, France

MR

Maria A. Rocca

Professor Rocca is Head of the “Neuroimaging of CNS White Matter Unit”, Division of Neuroscience, Scientific Institute Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy and Associate Professor of Neurology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. Her activity is mainly focused on the application of structural and functional MR based techniques to improve the understanding of CNS function and dysfunction in healthy individuals and diseased people, particularly patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other white matter disorders. She is currently conducting and coordinating several national and international projects in adult and pediatric populations. She is also extensively applying advanced methods of analysis in an attempt to improve the understanding of the role of brain functional and structural plasticity in the different phases of MS, and the influence of pharmacological and rehabilitative interventions on brain reorganization. Prof. Rocca is member of various national and international Scientific Societies and, in some of them, she covered or is covering institutional roles. She has been chair of the MAGNIMS network since 2018, and is author or co-author of 53 book chapters and more than 500 papers published on peer-reviewed journals.
Affiliations and expertise
IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Italy

SV

Steve Vucic

Professor Steve Vucic is afflliated with the Brain and Nerve Research Center, The University of Sydney and the Concord General and Repatriation Hospital. Professor Vucic is a clinical academic and internationally recognized researcher in the field of neuroscience with an emphasis on understanding amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) pathogenesis.
Affiliations and expertise
Brain and Nerve Research Center, The University of Sydney; Concord General and Repatriation Hospital, Australia

BW

Brian Weinshenker

Brian G. Weinshenker, MD, is a professor of neurology at the University of Virginia. He arrived at UVA Health’s neurology department in 2022 after 35 years of experience practicing, including 30 years as a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Neurology, University of Virginia, USA

VY

V. Wee Yong

V. Wee Yong, PhD, is a professor of translational neuroscience at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Oncology at The University of Calgary. He co-directs the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Program of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, and he holds the Canada Research Chair in Neuroimmunology.
Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Translational Neuroscience, Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Oncology at The University of Calgary, Canada