Table 1.
Characteristics of brainstems lesions in NMO patients (31)
|
Clinical manifestations |
Anti-AQP4 antibodies positive |
Anti-AQP4 antibodies negative |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of patients = 18 | Number of patients = 13 | |||||||||||
|
MRI of brain |
At disease onset |
At follow-up |
At disease onset |
At follow-up |
||||||||
| Normal |
8 |
2 |
6 |
1 |
||||||||
| Non-specific changes |
10 |
8 |
8 |
6 |
||||||||
| MS-like changes* |
0 |
8 |
0 |
7 |
||||||||
|
Topological distribution of Brainstem lesions** |
F/m |
Sym |
Asym |
EDDS |
F/m |
Sym |
Asym |
EDDS |
||||
| 2-4 |
5-7 |
8-9 |
2-4 |
5-7 |
8-9 |
|||||||
| Medulla oblongata |
10/2 |
12 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
4/2 |
6 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
0 |
| Area postrema |
6/2 |
8 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1/2 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Pons |
6/1 |
7 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
2/1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Mesencephalon |
2/1 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
3/1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
| Hypothalamic and thalamic | 5/0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1/1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
* = meeting the Barkhof criteria for dissemination in space used in the McDonald criteria as described previously [2]. ** = Lesions were observed in the brainstem a total of 25/31 NMO patients.