Background: Longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) is defined clinically by acute transverse myelitis (ATM) and radiologically by extensive spinal cord (SC) lesions spanning three or more vertebral segments on Magnetic Ressonance Image (MRI). Even that LETM carries a considerable diagnostic challenge, has been regarded as a spectrum of Neuromyelitis optica (NMO). The seropositivity for NMO IgG, a specific biomarker of NMO, is variable in LETM patients around the world and reach 30-35% in brazilian series.
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory/demyelinating disorder predominantly affecting the optic nerves and spinal cord. Recent findings showed an underlying humoral abnormality in NMO, characterized by a serum antibody against aquaporin-4 (Aqp-4-Ab). In this study, we evaluated the Aqp-4-Ab status among Turkish patients with NMO to determine the clinical and prognostic relevance
Background: Epidemiological studies have identified ethnicity-based prevalence differences of NMO which is considered to be rare in Caucasians. However, little is actually known about NMO in Caucasians and NMO may be misdiagnosed.
Objective: To estimate the frequency and prognostic value of NMO-IgG seropositivity in patients presenting with isolated optic neuritis (ON) and no prior neurological events. Background: The aquaporin-4-specific autoantibody, NMO-IgG, is a biomarker for neuromyelitis optica (NMO). We have shown that 38% of patients with longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis (LETM) and 20% of recurrent ON are seropositive and are at high risk for recurrence of ON and myelits
We systematically evaluated the frequency of neurological disorders and muscle and neural autoantibodies in 177 patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and in 250 control subjects (173 healthy; 77 multiple sclerosis, MS, patients). An excess of myasthenia gravis (MG, 2%), and muscle-type acetylcholine receptor antibody (11%) was detected among NMO patients. The presence of neural or muscle autoantibodies was more common in NMO patients (34%) than in MS patients or healthy controls (7%), P less than 0.0001
There are no specific treatments for patients with acute, severe neurological deficits caused by neuromyelitis optica (NMO) who fail to recover after treatment with high-dose corticosteroids. We evaluated the clinical response of anti-tuberculosis treatment (ATT) in patients suffering from steroid-refractory NMO, and investigated the correlation between NMO and tuberculous infection of the central nervous system (CNS)