Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMO-SD) in a Sub-Saharan Africa country: A preliminary study of sixteen Senegalese cases

•In Sub-Saharan Africa, publications on neuromyelitis optica (NMO) are rare and deal with isolated cases or small cohort.•This study is the first Senegalese cohort of NMO-SD compiled in Dakar and represents until today the most important African series behind the Nigeria.•NMO is a young woman pathology.•For the attack treatment, we only have methylprednisonole and prednisone.•A multicentric national and subregional study is desirable to determine the African particularities of the NMO. Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. In Sub-Saharan Africa, publications are rare and deal with isolated cases. Our goal was to analyze the characteristics of NMO spectrum disorders in a Senegalese cohort compiled in Dakar. This was a retrospective descriptive study conducted at the Neurology Department of Fann Teaching Hospital. We included all patients with NMO-SD according to the 2014 diagnostic criteria. Sixteen patients were enrolled, 4 men and 12 women with an average age of 30 years. Ten patients (62.5%) presented an acute myelopathy associated with retrobulbar optic neuritis and 5 (31.25%) had isolated spinal cord injury. Spinal MRI showed abnormal cervical (6 patients), dorsal (4 patients), bulbar-cervical (3 patients) or cervico-dorsal (2 patients) signal extended (≥3 vertebral segments) of the spinal cord. Visual evoked potentials (VEP) showed demyelinating optic nerve involvement in 8 patients. Ten patients were positive to AQP-4 IgG. Systemic corticosteroid therapy was the rule in all patients, associated with azathioprine in 10 of them. The clinical course at 3 months was predominantly favourable (10 patients). This cohort is the first one compiled in Dakar. African multicentric epidemiological studies are needed.