Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis: A 10-year cohort study in Thai children

Childhood acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is a demyelinating disease with variable clinical courses and outcomes. Its evolution to multiple sclerosis in Asian children is yet to be determined. Medical records, investigation results and magnetic resonance imaging of brain of Thai children aged less than 15 years with initial diagnosis of ADEM at a referral university hospital in Thailand from January 1997 to December 2006 were reviewed. Clinical course and the outcome were finalized by telephone interview, self-report questionnaire, and/or neurological examination by December 2008. Modified Rankin Score was applied for determination of disability. MRI findings were categorized along with the locations and number of areas of abnormalities shown by T2-weight and FLAIR. 16 patients consisting of 5 boys and 11 girls (age-range 1-14 years, mean 6.9 ± 3.6 years, median 6 years) were identified. Nine patients had cranial nerve dysfunctions including one child with optic neuropathy. One patient died with confirmed pathological diagnosis of ADEM. Among the remaining 15, who were followed from 2 to 10 years (mean 5.8 years), 13 and 3 patients were classified into monophasic ADEM and multiple sclerosis, respectively. Ten of 13 with final diagnosis of ADEM had complete recovery. There was no association between number of lesions or location in the initial MRI and the outcome and final diagnosis. ADEM in Thai children had similar clinical presentation and outcome to previous studies in Western countries. ADEM can occasionally evolve to multiple sclerosis in Thai children as being shown in previous reports from other Asian countries.