Anti-aquaporin-4 antibody in Chinese patients with central nervous system inflammatory demyelinating disorders. Long Y, Qiu W, Hu X, Peng F, Lu Z, Wang Y, Yang Y. Source Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou 510630, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China; Department of Neurology, Clinical College, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, 19 Nonglinxia Road, Guangzhou 510080, Guangdong Province, People’s Republic of China.
Cerebrospinal fluid B-cell expansion in longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis associated with neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G. Dale RC, Tantsis E, Merheb V, Brilot F. Source Neuroimmunology Group, Institute of Neuroscience and Muscle Research, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Keywords: Neuromyelitis optica; Systemic lupus erythematosus; Systemic Sjogren’s; Myelitis; Autoantibody Abstract Objective: To identify the presence of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) in patients with acute myelitis and suspected connective tissue disease (CTD), and to discuss the utility of this distinction in establishing a diagnostic and therapeutic plan. Methods: Seventeen patients with myelitis were identified from a single university-based rheumatology clinic and prospectively followed. Clinical data and serologic profile were used to determine the presence of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) or NMOSD according to established criteria
Background: Antibodies to aquaporin-4 (AQP4-Ab), known as NMO-IgG, are a sensitive and specific marker for neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
Increased blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption can be found in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO); however, its clinical implication and association with disability at acute attack remains obscure. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical significance of BBB disruption and the subsequent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)/serum IgG gradient in NMO.
OBJECTIVE:To describe the clinical, molecular, and neuropathological findings of a patient with aquaporin 4-positive relapsing myelitis who developed extensive brain involvement followed by death. DESIGN: Case report.
The aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channel antibody is used in the diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) due to its high sensitivity and high specificity. However, some patients are reported to have neither optic neuritis nor myelitis despite being positive for the AQP4-autoantibody (AQP4-Ab). Therefore, recent reports suggest that such patients should be diagnosed as having ‘AQP4-autoimmune syndrome’.
The status of fatigue, depression, and activities of daily living and their relationships with cognitive function in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) after acute relapse has never been observed. This study investigated cognitive function, fatigue, depression, activities of daily living, and the relationships among them in NMO patients. Twenty-two NMO patients without visible lesions on conventional brain MRI after acute relapse, 22 depression patients, and 22 healthy comparison subjects received several scales to assess cognitive function, fatigue, and depression
The authors report a case of a 16-year-old girl with a history of systemic lupus erythematosus who developed bilateral acute optic neuritis.
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an uncommon idiopathic demyelinating disease of the central nervous system and is sometimes unresponsive to steroid treatment as compared to multiple sclerosis (MS). There are only a few reports of plasma exchange (PE) as an effective rescue treatment when high-dose steroid therapy fails in exacerbations of NMO.
Optic neuritis is defined as inflammation of the optic nerve.