1. Frequency of new asymptomatic MRI lesions during attacks and follow-up of patients with NMOSD in a real-world setting.
- Author
-
Carnero Contentti E, Lopez PA, Tkachuk V, Vrech C, Zarate MA, Correale J, Deri N, Luetic G, Marrodan M, Pagani Cassara F, Tavolini D, Ysrraelit MC, Balbuena ME, Hryb J, Chiganer E, Leguizamon F, Knorre E, Zanga G, Pestchanker C, Barboza A, Nadur D, Cristiano E, Patrucco L, Alonso R, Alonso Serena M, Paul F, and Rojas JI
- Subjects
- Humans, Retrospective Studies, Follow-Up Studies, Brain diagnostic imaging, Aquaporin 4, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Autoantibodies, Neuromyelitis Optica diagnostic imaging, Neuromyelitis Optica complications
- Abstract
Background: We aimed to assess the frequency of new asymptomatic lesions on brain and spinal imaging (magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) and their association with subsequent relapses in a large cohort of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients in Argentina., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 675 MRI (225 performed during an attack and 450 during the relapse-free period (performed at least 3 months from the last attack)) of NMOSD patients who had at least 2 years of clinical and MRI follow-up since disease onset. Kaplan-Meier (KM) curves were used for depicting time from remission MRI to subsequent relapse., Results: We included 135 NMOSD patients (64.4% were aquaporin-4-immunoglobulin G (AQP4-IgG)-positive). We found that 26 (19.26%) and 66 (48.88%) of patients experienced at least one new asymptomatic MRI lesion during both the relapse-free period and attacks, respectively. The most frequent asymptomatic MRI lesions were optic nerves followed by short-segment myelitis during the relapse-free period and attacks. KM curves did not show differences in the time taken to develop a new relapse., Conclusion: Our findings showed that new asymptomatic lesions are relatively frequent. However, the presence of new asymptomatic MRI lesions during the relapse-free period and at relapses was not associated with a shorter time to developing subsequent relapses.
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF