The following is a summary of “Spinal movement disorders in NMOSD, MOGAD, and idiopathic transverse myelitis: a prospective observational study,” published in the July 2024 issue of Neurology by Abboud et al.
Researchers conducted a prospective study to investigate the prevalence of spinal movement disorders in Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD), Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Disease (MOGAD), and Idiopathic Transverse Myelitis (ITM).
They evaluated patients referred to a tertiary neuroimmunology clinic for spinal cord demyelination (excluding MS). All patients completed a survey on movement disorders and underwent a focused exam for movement disorders. The movement disorders were compared among patients with NMOSD with and without AQP4-IgG, MOGAD, and ITM, and patients with and without involuntary movements were also compared to predict spinal movement disorders.
The results showed 63 patients (2017 to 2021), 71% females, with a median age of 49 years [range 18–72] and a median disease duration of 12 months [range 1–408]. Among them, 49% had ITM, 21% had NMOSD without AQP4-IgG, 19% had NMOSD with AQP4-IgG, and 11% had MOGAD. Movement disorders were observed in 73% of all patients, with the highest prevalence in NMOSD with AQP4-IgG (92%) and the lowest in MOGAD (57%). The most common spinal movement disorders included tonic spasms (57%), focal dystonia (25%), spinal tremor (16%), spontaneous clonus (9.5%), secondary restless limb syndrome (9.5%), and spinal myoclonus (8%). Multivariate analysis indicated that longitudinally extensive myelitis and AQP4-IgG were independent risk factors for developing spinal movement disorders. In contrast, MOG-IgG and African American races were associated with a reduced risk of these disorders.
Investigators concluded that spinal movement disorders were significantly more common in these non-MS demyelinating spinal cord conditions than previously reported in MS or retrospective NMOSD studies.
Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00415-024-12527-6
