- To review the multiple sclerosis (MS) variants, and other autoimmune demyelinating disorders such as neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD), acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) and anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (anti-MOG) syndromes, their characteristics and distribution.- To illustrate these diseases using images from our database to highlight the imaging findings of each disease in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).- To analyse key features in order to distinguish these entities from MS and from other etiologies.

In the last few decades, MS variants and other types of autoimmune demyelinating disorders including NMOSD, ADEM and anti-MOG disease are recognized as entities of their own. They are frequently misidentified as MS due to the similarities of their clinical manifestations and imaging findings.Knowledge of clinical course, lesion characteristics and distribution could aid in diagnosis of them. MRI is the standard imaging technique of diagnosis of these autoimmune demyelinating diseases. Early and accurate diagnosis of all these conditions is highly important due to different therapeutic approaches depending on the entity.This review is intended to give an overview of the diverse spectrum of autoimmune demyelinating disorders, focused on MS variants, NMOSD, ADEM and anti-MOG, other secondary etiologies and the most common differential diagnosis.