TY - JOUR T1 - Tonic spasms and short myelitis in an elderly woman—unique onset of neuromyelitis optica JF - Practical Neurology JO - Pract Neurol SP - 463 LP - 465 DO - 10.1136/practneurol-2015-001185 VL - 15 IS - 6 AU - Shahd Hamid AU - Liene Elsone AU - Kerry Mutch AU - David P J Hunt AU - Katy Murray AU - John M Reid AU - Anu Jacob Y1 - 2015/12/01 UR - http://pn.bmj.com/content/15/6/463.abstract N2 - Neuromyelitis optica typically presents at a median age of 40–50 years. The myelitis is usually of acute onset, long (>3 vertebral segments) and causes severe sensorimotor and bladder and bowel disturbances. We describe a 73-year-old Caucasian woman with aquaporin-4 antibody-positive neuromyelitis optica whose index event was intermittent paroxysmal tonic spasms (and no other myelitis features) that recurred for 6 months and was associated with a short spinal cord lesion on MRI. This case reiterates recent observations that neuromyelitis optica can occur in older persons, and its myelitis can be ‘short’ and clinically mild. ER -