title: Benign neuromyelitis optica is rare in Japanese patients.
abstract: Good-outcome neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is defined as an Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score of ≤3.0 at 10 years after onset. The clinical courses of 80 consecutive patients with NMO were analyzed to identify the frequency and features of Japanese patients with good-outcome NMO. Of the 80 patients, 37 had a disease duration of >10 years; of these, eight (21.6%) presented a good outcome. These cases presented lower EDSS scores during the early phase of disease compared with those with conventional NMO. However, half of these patients developed severe disabilities later on, indicating that truly benign NMO is rare.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan auzawa@chiba-u.jp.
authors.forename: Akiyuki
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uzawa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Mayumi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Muto
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Tomohiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Saeko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Masuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuwabara
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009471:Neuromyelitis Optica; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies
keywords: Benign; Expanded Disability Status Scale; good outcome; neuromyelitis optica