Mult Scler. 2012 Jul 3. [Epub ahead of print] Central nervous system aquaporin-4 autoimmunity presenting with an isolated cerebral abnormality.
Imaging Immune-Mediated Depression and Cognitive Impairment in Autoimmune Neurologic Diseases: MRS of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myselitis Adam I. Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D.
The focus of this paper is to summarize the current knowledge on visual pathway damage in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Recently, a disease-specific antibody was found in serum from patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and its target antigen was identified as aquaporin 4 (AQP4) water channel protein. There is no clinical picture of pediatric cases with anti-AQP4 antibody, except one report from North America. Here, we report the clinical features of 18 Japanese anti-AQP4 antibody -positive patients with childhood-onset of NMO
A 29-YEAR-OLD WOMAN of Afro-Caribbean descent with a history of thyrotoxicosis was evaluated for right leg weakness and diagnosed as having myelitis.
Neuromyelitis Optica (NMO) is a rare but severe demyelinating disease, characterized by severe optic neuritis and spinal myelitis. The entity was described by Eug?ne Devic in 1894 and is since then known as Devic’s Neuromyelitis Optica (1). Initially considered a monophasic variant of multiple sclerosis (MS), detailed recent reports have allowed a better definition of the disease with distinct clinical, laboratory and imaging findings.
Abstract: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO), or Devic disease, has been distinguished from multiple sclerosis (MS) by the presence of optic neuritis that is usually bilateral, simultaneous, and often severe, myelopathic findings accompanied by longitudinally extensive spinal cord imaging abnormalities, no brain imaging abnormalities typical of MS, and often rapid progression to debility and even death. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have identified an immunoglobulin marker of NMO (the NMO antibody) that binds selectively to the aquaphorin-4 water channel and may play a causative role
Optic neuritis is defined as inflammation of the optic nerve.