OBJECTIVES: Spinal cord compression may be associated with a fusiform cord lesion on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images, leading to confusion with transverse myelitis and delaying effective surgical treatment. RESULTS: We describe 5 patients referred for evaluation of suspected neuromyelitis optica in whom the final diagnosis was symptomatic cervical spinal stenosis.
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system that causes severe optic neuritis and myelitis attacks. It tends to spare the brain early in the disease course. Characteristics of NMO that help to distinguish it from classical MS include:? (1)more severe optic neuritis and myelitis attacks; (2) prominent CSF pleocytosis (more than 50 WBC) that can be dominated by polymorphonuclear cells1-3;?(3)?lower frequency of CSF oligoclonal banding (15-30% compared with 85% in MS)1-3; and (4)?at disease onset, the brain MRI scan is normal or reveals nonspecific white matter lesions that do not meet MS MRI diagnostic criteria.
Purpose: Paroxysmal tonic spasms (PTS) are brief, stereotypic, repetitive events of painful dystonic posturing that occur in association with multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD). They are a hallmark of central nervous system demyelination and are putatively due to ion channel dysfunction on or adjacent to demyelinated axons
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a neurological disease characterized by optic neuritis and transverse myelitis with long spinal cord lesion. Recently, NMO-IgG, which recognizes the aquaporin-4 (AQP-4), was identified in sera from patients with NMO. AQP-4 is a water channel expressed in astrocytes and ependymal cells throughout the brain and spinal cord
Balo’s concentric sclerosis (BCS) is considered to be a rare variant of multiple sclerosis and characterized by alternating rings of demyelinated and preserved myelin layers. The mechanism underlying BCS remains to be elucidated. Recently, occurrence of concentric rings of Balo was described in the brainstem of a patient with neuromyelitis optica (NMO)