Clinical outcome after PLEX in myelitis and ON
| Baseline and follow-up characteristics | SC attacks (n=67) | Optic neuritis (n=48) | p Value | |
| Age at attack (years) | 39 (19) | 39 (14.5) | 0.87 | |
| Duration of disease prior to attack (years) | 1 (9) | 5 (8) | 0.10 | |
| Preceding attacks | 2 (4) | 0.5 (1) | 0.001 | |
| First attack, no. (%) | 13 (19) | 24 (50) | 0.001 | |
| Second attack, no. (%) | 10 (15) | 15 (31) | ||
| ≥3 attacks, no. (%) | 34 (51) | 9 (19) | ||
| Treatments | ||||
| Delay from onset to hospital, median (days) | 5 (12.3) | 5 (5.8) | 0.54 | |
| Steroids (%) | IV (52), oral (6) | IV (75), oral (6) | 0.04 | |
| Delay from onset to steroids, median (days)† | 4 (9) | 4 (3) | 0.53 | |
| Delay from onset to PLEX (days) | 9 (13) | 6 (7) | 0.08 | |
| PLEX procedures | 5 (2–13) | 5 (3) | 0.33 | |
| Blood volume exchanged (litres) | 3 (2–5.5) | 3 (2–5) | 0.88 | |
| Clinical results* | EDSS | VA lines | VA decimal | |
| Baseline scale | 5 (5) | 0 (1) | 10 (3) | |
| Acute scale | 8 (2) | 5 (2) | 0.14 (0.4) | |
| Late scale follow-up | 6 (3.5) | 1 (2) | 6.6 (7.8) | |
| Δscale | 1 (2) | 1 (1.8) | −2 (−4) | |
| Delay of late scale assessment (months) | 6 (0) | 6.1 (2) | 0.11 | |
*Scale is either EDSS for SC attacks or VA for ON. VA is given in decimal scale and in visual lines (see online supplementary table 1).
†Delay from onset to steroids is shorter than delay from onset to hospital because foreign patients received steroids locally before medevac.
EDSS, Expanded Disability Status Scale; IV, intravenous; ON, optic neuritis; PLEX, plasma exchange; SC, spinal cord; VA, visual acuity.