Diagnostic criteria for neuromyelitis optica
| Diagnosis requires all absolute criteria and one major or two minor supportive criteria. |
| Absolute criteria |
| Optic neuritis |
| Acute myelitis |
| No evidence of clinical disease outside optic nerve or spinal cord |
| Supportive criteria |
| Major |
| Negative brain MRI at onset |
| Spinal MRI with signal abnormalities >3 vertebral segment lengths |
| CSF pleocytosis >50 cells/mm3 or >5 neutrophils/mm3 |
| Minor |
| Bilateral optic neuritis |
| Severe optic neuritis with visual acuity worse than 6/60 in at least |
| one eye |
| Severe, fixed, attack related weakness (MRC grade ⩽2) in one or |
| more limbs |