Kurzke scale and multiple sclerosis

• April 16, 2024

• What is the Kurtzke scale?  

The disability scale of Kurtzke , also known as EDSS, is a way to quantify the progress of the disease in a person. The EDSS lists the disabilities related to the multiple sclerosis (EM), according to eight functional systems.

This allows many neurologists assign a certain score to each patient. The functional systems are the following: intestinal, pyramidal, cerebellum, brainstem, sensory, bladder, visual, cerebral, and others.

The EDSS gives two distinctive classifications to two different types of damages due to multiple sclerosis , depending on the severity of the symptoms of the disease. For example, grades 1.0 to 4.5 means that patients with multiple sclerosis are completely ambulatory. On the other hand, those who qualify with 5.0 to 9.5 are those whose ambulation is altered.

• His discovery

The doctor Kurtzke He established this scale in August 1955 and was initially called DSS, which assessed the damage associated with MS on the basis of a ten-point scale. And then in 1983, Dr. Kurtzke discovered the EDSS . This last tool became more famous and useful because it could evaluate the deterioration related to MS in all major neurological areas.

Although EDSS is not so sensitive when it comes to assessing temporary changes in the patient's level of awareness, this tool is used not only at the national level, but also in international tests in the evaluation of how effective a given treatment can be.

The EDSS is built primarily to assess the person's wandering and not the cognition, fatigue or functioning of the upper extremities.

• The scale of the functional systems

The scale of functional systems is important for EDSS, since it evaluates the seven parts of the central nervous system that have the capacity to control the normal functioning of the body . For example, those who can function normally are classified as 0, while those who are unable to complete their task are given a grade of 6.

The FS scale of the EDSS is important for people with multiple sclerosis, but who can still wander, as it assesses whether they may have a disability or difficulty.

According to the results of numerous investigations, the EDSS Kurtzke and a certain scale of the ADL, or activities of daily life have a symbiotic relationship towards each other. Together, these two are able to assess the degree of disability that occurs in multiple operating domains .

Although the EDSS is the standard way to evaluate the magnitude of the disability It is still criticized because it focuses too much on the use of the lower extremities and does not pay much attention to the general clinical change.