Neuromyelitis optica (NMO, also known as Devic’s syndrome) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system characterized by recurrent optic neuritis and acute transverse myelitis. The disease was initially considered a variant of multiple sclerosis (MS). However, recent literature had suggested that NMO is a distinct disease from MS, with poorer prognosis and different therapy. Therefo...

Diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica (NMO) state that there should be no active disease outside the optic nerves and spinal cord. However, several cases have been described with symptomatic brain involvement. We describe an autopsy case of a patient with NMO and symptomatic involvement of the brain. The histopathology of the brain lesions is typical for NMO, with extensive macrophage in...

T he effect of immunosuppression with corticosteroids, azathioprine, mycophenolate, or rituximab for preventing relapses in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) has been demonstrated in case series and retrospective studies. These drugs are currently considered the mainstay treatment for preventing neurologic worsening in NMO. Herein, we describe our experience with pulse cyclophosphamide f...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) characterized by severe optic neuritis (ON) and acute myelitis (AM). NMO differs in many respects from multiple sclerosis (MS). NMO-IgG is an autoantibody exclusively detected in the sera of NMO, and is directed against aquaporin-4 (AQP4), a water channel richly expressed on astrocytes in the CNS. In most ...

UNLABELLED Although neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is known to be a more severe disease than relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), few studies comparing both conditions in a single center have been done. METHODS Comparison of our previously published cohort of 41 NMO patients with 177 RRMS patients followed in the same center, from 1994 to 2007. RESULTS Mean age of onset was 32.6 for N...

OBJECTIVES To examine anti-KIR4.1 antibodies by 2 different assays in Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) or neuromyelitis optica (NMO). METHODS One hundred sixty serum samples from 57 patients with MS, 40 patients with NMO/NMO spectrum disorder (NMOSD), and 50 healthy controls (all were Japanese) were tested with ELISA using a synthetic peptide of the first extracellular portion o...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an inflammatory and demyelinating syndrome characterized by severe attacks of myelitis and optic neuritis. A crucial role for humoral immunity in the NMO pathogenesis has been suggested by the detection of a highly specific serum autoantibody NMO immunoglobulin G that binds to aquaporin-4 (AQP4) water channels, and the pronounced deposition of immunoglobulins coloc...

BACKGROUND Gender and age at onset are important epidemiological factors influencing prevalence, clinical presentation, and treatment response in autoimmune diseases. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the impact of female sex and fertile age on aquaporin-4-antibody (AQP4-ab) status, attack localization, and response to attack treatment in patients with neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and its spectrum disorder...

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO or Devic's syndrome) is a rare relapsing demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that mainly affects the spinal cord and optic nerves and shares many clinical and radiological features with multiple sclerosis. The association of NMO with other autoimmune diseases was reported, but very few reports described association with autoimmune thyroid disease....