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The presence of the autoantibody neuromyelitis optica immunoglobulin G (NMO-IgG) has been found to distinguish NMO — typically, a fulminant disease — from multiple sclerosis (MS), which is rarely fulminant. The aim of this study was to determine whether NMO-IgG is simply an index of the severity of demyelination in fulminant demyelinating disease or a specific marker for NMO.
From 74 patients treated with plasmapheresis for an attack of fulminant, corticosteroid-refractory CNS inflammatory demyelinating disease, researchers tested preplasmapheresis serum samples for NMO-IgG. NMO-IgG was present in 9 of 14 patients (64%) who received clinical diagnoses of NMO and in 10 of 20 patients (50%) with long myelitis (longer than three vertebral bodie…