1. Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMO-SD) in a Sub-Saharan Africa country: A preliminary study of sixteen Senegalese cases.
- Author
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Gaye NM, Fall M, Diop AM, Dadah SML, Ka M, Cissé O, Diagne NS, Diop-Sène MS, Sow AD, Basse-Faye AM, Sarr MM, Touré K, Seck LB, Ndiaye M, and Diop AG
- Subjects
- Adult, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Retrospective Studies, Senegal, Adrenal Cortex Hormones therapeutic use, Aquaporin 4 immunology, Evoked Potentials, Visual physiology, Neuromyelitis Optica drug therapy, Neuromyelitis Optica immunology, Neuromyelitis Optica pathology, Neuromyelitis Optica physiopathology
- Abstract
Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. In Sub-Saharan Africa, publications are rare and deal with isolated cases. Our goal was to analyze the characteristics of NMO spectrum disorders in a Senegalese cohort compiled in Dakar., Patients and Method: This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted at the Neurology Department of Fann Teaching Hospital. We included all patients with NMO-SD according to the 2014 diagnostic criteria., Results: Sixteen patients were enrolled, 4 men and 12 women with an average age of 30 years. Ten patients (62.5%) presented an acute myelopathy associated with retrobulbar optic neuritis and 5 (31.25%) had isolated spinal cord injury. Spinal MRI showed abnormal cervical (6 patients), dorsal (4 patients), bulbar-cervical (3 patients) or cervico-dorsal (2 patients) signal extended (≥3 vertebral segments) of the spinal cord. Visual evoked potentials (VEP) showed demyelinating optic nerve involvement in 8 patients. Ten patients were positive to AQP-4 IgG. Systemic corticosteroid therapy was the rule in all patients, associated with azathioprine in 10 of them. The clinical course at 3 months was predominantly favourable (10 patients)., Conclusion: This cohort is the first one compiled in Dakar. African multicentric epidemiological studies are needed., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2019
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