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DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-817920
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York
Neuromyelitis Optica in a Child with Atypical Onset and Severe Outcome
Publication History
Received: April 15, 2003
Accepted after Revision: January 23, 2004
Publication Date:
12 July 2004 (online)
Abstract
We report on a seven-year-old boy with inflammatory relapsing-remitting CNS disease, involving the optic nerves and spinal cord, with increasingly severe sequelae after each relapse. Clinical course, neuroimaging and laboratory findings were consistent with neuromyelitis optica. Biopsy of leptomeninges and underlying nervous tissue showed increased vascularization and thickened hyalinized vessel walls, reported as suggestive for neuromyelitis optica. Clinical features at onset were atypical, rendering the case highly unusual and the diagnosis tentative.
Key words
Neuromyelitis optica - children
References
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Nicoletta Milani
Child Neurology Department, Istituto Nazionale Neurologico “C. Besta”
Via Celoria 11
20133 Milan
Italy
Email: nmilani@istituto-besta.it