Recurrent spinal cord attacks in a patient with a limited form of neuromyelitis optica.

This report describes the case of a 71-year-old woman with a limited form of neuromyelitis optica (NMO) who had a longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesion from the fourth to the tenth thoracic vertebrae. Up to age 75, she had four subsequent recurrences of the myelitis within the same spinal cord area but with no optic neuritis. Anti-AQP4 antibody was seropositive. Recurrence within the same spinal cord area might be a characteristic clinical finding in NMO spectrum disorders. For such patients, examination for anti-AQP4 antibody might be necessary for the diagnosis and therapy of this disorder.