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In the summer of 2001, a nationwide epidemiological multiple sclerosis (MS) register was initiated under the auspices of the German MS Society (DMSG). This project aimed at collecting epidemiological data on the number of patients with MS, course of the disease, and their social situation in Germany. During the 2-year pilot phase, five MS centers with various regional differences and treatment methods participated, leading to a representative selection of patients. In December 2003, standardised data sets of 3,458 MS patients were available for evaluation. After examining the quality of the data, 3,223 sets remained for further analysis. The demographics were similar to those obtained from other epidemiological studies: 72% of the patients were female, mean age was 42.9+/-11.2 years, mean disease duration 12.6+/-8.7 years, and 64% suffered from the relapsing-remitting form of the disease. The median EDSS was 3.0, and 69% of patients had an EDSS

Intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) are now used to treat various diseases, including autoimmune diseases, systemic inflammatory diseases, allografts and for replacement therapy in the case of IgG deficiency. Only in some of the indications has the efficacy of this treatment been confirmed in large-scale studies. Also, in many cases the modes of action remain unclear. Principally, the following therapeutic strategies can be differentiated: Replacement treatment, blocking of the effector molecules, influencing of the cellular and humoral limbs of the immune defence system and interaction with cytokines. In certain CNS diseases, displacement of pathological immunoglobulins may be involved. It would be desirable to acquire more detailed knowledge about modes of action with the aim of using IVIG with greater specificity in the future.