"Lhermitte’s sign (LS) is highly prevalent in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), has a variable natural course and is significantly associated with the presence of cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities, researchers reported in August in Multiple Sclerosis journal.

The symptom is commonly stereotyped in individual patients. About 38% of patients with MS experience the sign at some time.

The aim of the study was to investigate LS frequency, natural history, characteristics and its radiological equivalents in MS population. The authors compared 300 patients with clinically definite MS (CD MS) with 100 healthy control subjects. All participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire.

It was found that 41% of MS patients experienced LS during disease course. In 53% of those who reported LS, the symptom appeared within the first three years of the onset of the disease. LS began as an isolated symptom in 64% of the patients. The sign was polysymptomatic in 36% of them. Most of the participants described LS as a short-lasting sensation.

Cervical MRIs were performed in 43 MS patients. MRI revealed abnormalities in 17out of 18participants who reported LS. By contrast, only 13 out of the 25 who never experienced LS, demonstrated pathological changes on cervical MRIs.

Lhermitte’s sign represents brief sensations, variouslydescribed as tingling, vibrating pain or electric shock-like feelings travelling down the spine, often into one or both legs, and less commonly, into the arm(s), which occur suddenly on neck flexion. Movement or coughing may also provoke the symptom.

The sensations are often transient, resolving after a few weeks, but recurrences are frequent. The sign is not specific for MS and may be secondary to a variety of different pathologies (tumours or spondylosis) that may require exclusion.

Lhermitte’s signis named after Jacques Jean Lhermitte, who first described it, and is also rarely referred to as ”barber’s chair syndrome”."http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/arn/ms