Original Article The Demographic, Clinical, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Features of

The authors collected demographic, clinical, and neuroimaging data prospectively on 38 childrenwith transversemyelitis. One child died during the illness. The female:male ratio was 1.2:1 for children under age 10 years and 2.6:1 over age 10 years. Twenty-eight (74%) reported a prodromal event. Twenty-two patients (58%) had longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis, 9 (24%) had focal lesions, and 5 (13%) had both. Twenty of 33with brain imaging (61%) had brain lesions; 7 fulfilledMcDonald criteria for dissemination in space. Seven of 22 (36%) tested had cerebrospinal fluid oligoclonal banding, 6 of whom had brain lesions. Serum neuromyelitis optica IgG antibodies were absent in all 20 of the children for whom this test was available. At follow-up (mean 3.2+ 2.0 years), 16 % are wheelchair-dependent, 22 % have persisting bladder dysfunction, and 13 % have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis