BACKGROUND: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a disease of the CNS characterized by severe optic neuritis and longitudinally extended transverse myelitis. Recent studies suggest that anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibodies, NMO-specific biomarkers, are pathogenic and target AQP4-expressing astrocytes in NMO, although an additional event (T-cell response or infection) should occur for anti-AQP4 antibodies and complements to pass through the blood-brain barrier and cause the CNS lesions
It may be possible to save money by treating multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica with lower doses of rituximab, but the result may be a shorter period of effectiveness, according to one study.
Both general neurologists and neurologists with a broad spectrum of subspecialty interests are often asked to evaluate patients with disorders of the spinal cord. Over the past decade, there have been significant advances in our understanding of a wide spectrum of immune-mediated, infectious, metabolic, hereditary, paraneoplastic, and compressive myelopathies. Advances have been made in the classification and management of spinal vascular malformations.
The clinical course of immune mediated optic neuritis (ON) will depend on the specific underlying inflammatory disease. These disorders have traditionally been classified according to clinical and MRI findings. Aquaporin-4 (AQP4) autoantibodies (neuromyelitis optica-IgG (NMO-IgG)) may have diagnostic and prognostic value in patients who present with isolated ON.
A full-term female neonate was born with severe hypotonia and weakness. Her mother had been treated for neuromyelitis optica (Devic disease) for 6 years
BACKGROUND: Although overt involvement of the central nervous system (CNS) in myasthenia gravis (MG) is considered rare, hyperreflexia is a common and yet unexplained finding. Aquaporin 4 (AQP4), the target autoantigen in neuromyelitis optica, is expressed both in the CNS and in the neuromuscular junction
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.
A 21-year-old right-handed woman suffered cervical myelitis in 1971, followed by two episodes of bilateral optic neuritis and four relapses of thoracic or lumbar myelitis through 1998. Her initial brain MRI in 1989 revealed no abnormality, which met the MRI criteria for multiple sclerosis. In 2009, her serum anti-aquaporin-4 antibody was found to be positive, and a diagnosis of relapsing neuromyelitis optica (NMO) was made on the basis of current diagnostic criteria
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of mitoxantrone hydrochloride and determine how it exhibits a differential inhibitory effect on subsets of B cells in patients with highly relapsing neuromyelitis optica (NMO).
Neuromyelitis optica is a central nervous system disease characterized by optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. It is a devastating illness, and early treatment may prevent future relapses and severe disability. However, there is much variability in protocols used for treatment.
Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) has been reported to be associated with endocrinopathies, such as amenorrhea, galactorrhea, and diabetes mellitus. However, its association with the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is extremely rare.
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a demyelinating disorder involving optic neuritis and transverse myelitis.