PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Wingerchuk, Dean M.
AU  - Hogancamp, William F.
AU  - O’Brien, Peter C.
AU  - Weinshenker, Brian G.
TI  - The clinical course of neuromyelitis optica (Devic’s syndrome)
AID  - 10.1212/WNL.53.5.1107
DP  - 1999 Sep 01
TA  - Neurology
PG  - 1107--1107
VI  - 53
IP  - 5
4099  - http://n.neurology.org/content/53/5/1107.short
4100  - http://n.neurology.org/content/53/5/1107.full
SO  - Neurology1999 Sep 01; 53
AB  - Objectives: To evaluate the spectrum of neuromyelitis optica (NMO), including characteristics of the index events (optic neuritis [ON]) and myelitis), neuroimaging, CSF, and serologic studies, and to evaluate the long-term course. Methods: Review of 71 patients with NMO evaluated at the Mayo Clinic between 1950 and 1997. Results: NMO was either monophasic or relapsing. Patients with a monophasic course (n = 23) usually presented with rapidly sequential index events (median 5 days) with moderate recovery. Most with a relapsing course (n = 48) had an extended interval between index events (median 166 days) followed within 3 years by clusters of severe relapses isolated to the optic nerves and spinal cord. Most relapsing patients developed severe disability in a stepwise manner, and one-third died because of respiratory failure. Features of NMO distinct from “typical” MS included >50 cells/mm3 in CSF (often polymorphonuclear), normal initial brain MRI, and lesions extending over three or more vertebral segments on spinal cord MRI. Conclusions: Clinical, laboratory, and imaging features generally distinguish neuromyelitis optica from MS. Patients with relapsing optic neuritis and myelitis may have neuromyelitis optica rather than MS. Patients with a relapsing course of neuromyelitis optica have a poor prognosis and frequently develop respiratory failure during attacks of cervical myelitis.