Devic's disease in an adolescent girl with juvenile dermatomyositis

Abstract

Devic's disease, also known as neuromyelitis optica, is an autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the optic nerve and spinal cord. Recently, Devic's disease was demonstrated to be a channelopathy due to the presence of antibodies against the water channel aquaporin-4 in the blood-brain barrier. There have been reports of Devic's disease in infancy, but there are few reported associations of Devic's disease with other diseases. The association of Devic's disease with dermatomyositis has not yet been described in the literature. The aim of this paper is to describe the first case of Devic's disease in an adolescent with juvenile dermatomyositis.