Is NMO disease fatal?

Is NMO disease fatal?

Relapsing NMO normally leads to permanent vision loss, paralysis, or muscle weakness within 5 years. Respiratory failure as a result of the condition can be fatal in 25 to 50 percent of people with NMO.

Is NMO worse than MS?

Symptoms of NMO are usually severe than multiple sclerosis (MS). The individual episodes in NMO are more serious compared to MS. Their cumulative effect will have debilitating, irreversible effects on nerve functions.

Is NMO curable?

Neuromyelitis optica is a rare but serious disease that affects the central nervous system. There is no cure but there medicines and treatments may inhibit future disease flares.

Is NMO painful?

Pain is highly prevalent in patients with NMO,11,12,13,14 with two types of pain being most characteristic: evoked pain most often caused by painful tonic muscle spasms, and ongoing neuropathic pain. In a Korean cohort of 40 patients with NMO,15 painful tonic spasms were observed in 25% of cases.

How many people in the world have NMO?

Who gets NMO, and when? There are an estimated 4,000 people with NMO in the United States and a quarter-million people worldwide.

How many people have NMO in Canada?

There are approximately 1,000 to 3,000 Canadians living with NMOSD, with the disease being most commonly diagnosed among non-Caucasian women in their 20s to 40s. People with NMOSD experience unpredictable, severe relapses causing cumulative, permanent, neurological damage and disability.

What does NMO stand for in medical terms?

Neuromyelitis optica. Overview. Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a central nervous system disorder that primarily affects the eye nerves (optic neuritis) and the spinal cord (myelitis).

What is the life expectancy of someone with NMO?

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a rare inflammatory autoimmune disorder that primarily affects the optic nerve and the spinal cord, and sometimes the brain. Current research indicates that neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients have a 91% to 98% five-year survival rate.

How does NMO affect the brain and spinal cord?

NMO mainly affects the spinal cord and the optic nerves — the nerves that carry signals from the eyes to the brain. As a result, the disease can cause paralysis and blindness. Neuromyelitis optica most often strikes during childhood. It can also affect adults are in their 40s.

How does neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder ( NMO ) work?

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an etiologically heterogeneous syndrome characterized by acute inflammation of the optic nerve (optic neuritis, ON) and the spinal cord . [1] [2] ON and myelitis can occur either simultaneously or successively and a relapsing disease course is common, especially in untreated patients.