Spinal cord atrophy in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders

Abstract

Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSDs) is an immune mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS) and often displays a monophasic or relapsing-remitting course. Spinal cord lesions is one of the predominant characteristics in NMOSD. Assessment of spinal cord atrophy (SCA) is of growing interest in monitoring disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS), and correlates closely with the neurological disability. However, the studies of the SCA in NMOSD are still scarce. In this review, we describe the recent progress about the SCA in NMOSD, mainly the NMOSD with spinal cord lesions.