[Evaluation of diagnostic value for NMO-IgG in patients with neuromyelitis optica].

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the value of NMO-IgG in the diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica (NMO).

METHODS

A total of 80 patients with NMO, high-risk NMO (HR-NMO), multiple sclerosis (MS), clinical isolated syndrome (CIS) and other neurological diseases (subacute combined degeneration, cerebral infarction, intracranial hemorrhage and neurofibroma) were included in to the study. The titers of all patients' serum NMO-IgG were detected by indirect immunofluorence.

RESULTS

There were significant differences in NMO, HR-NMO MS, and CIS between patients with severe optical neuritis, transverse myelitis, normal brain MRI scan, spinal-cord lesion > 3 segments and serum NMO-IgG positive (P < 0.05). The level of serum NMO-IgG of NMO, HR-NMO was higher than that of MS, while the level of serum NMO-IgG of MS was slightly higher than that of CIS and other diseases. The sensitivity and specificity of NMO-IgG were 82.6% versus 96.2% in the diagnosis of NMO.

CONCLUSION

NMO-IgG is valuable for diagnosing NMO and differentiating it from MS.