Optic neuromyelitis: a clinical case report

Abstract

Introduction: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) are rare, antibody-mediated disorders of the central nervous system (CNS) with a predilection for the spinal cord and optic nerves. There is a strong female predilection. In the case of the most common relapsing form of the disease, which accounts for 80% to 90% of cases, women are overrepresented with a ratio of 5 to 10:1.6. The mean age of onset is 39.7 years. Objective: To determine the cause of neuromyelitis optica in a 24-year-old female patient. Materials and methods: It is a research framed in the positivist paradigm, with a quantitative approach. With a field-descriptive, non-experimental study, in the single clinical case modality. The method used was the clinical history and informed consent. Result: The case of a 24-year-old female patient with no personal pathological history is presented. She presented progressive vision loss of 2 months of evolution, which was accompanied by pain in the cervical region of moderate intensity and in 24 hours she presented paresthesia in the right arm, aphasia, neurological condition that evolved to Present quadriparesis, acute respiratory failure. Conclusion: In MRI of the cervical spine, an abnormal change in the cervical spinal cord signal is evident in T2 flair sequences, a longitudinally extensive hyperintense lesion that covers more than 3 vertebral bodies. She was treated with corticosteroids and plasmapheresis.