RESUMO
Objective:To investigate the relationship between painful tonic spasm (PTS) and spinal cord injury in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).Methods:The clinical data, serum AQP4-IgG antibody levels and magnetic resonance data of 138 patients with NMOSD were analyzed. Those with spinal cord involvement were assessed using the American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) to investigate the relationship between PTS and spinal cord injury.Results:The prevalence of PTS among the NMOSD patients was 36% (51/138), and all of the 51 NMOSD patients with PTS showed spinal cord lesions, an incidence significantly different from those without PTS. However, there were no significant differences in the age of onset, gender, disease duration, AQP4-IgG levels, lesion location, range of spinal cord lesions, or AIS grade between the NMOSD patients with and without PTS.Conclusion:PTS is a prevalent concomitant of NMOSD. As a common symptom of remission and recurrent remission, PTS is associated with myelopathy. This study failed to find any correlation between PTS and the affected spinal cord site or segment range. There was also no correlation between PTS and AIS grading among these subjects.