Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients
Published on: April 14, 2014
Pencil-thin ependymal enhancement in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders
Piyush Banker1, Smitha Sonni, Ilya Kister
1Department of Radiology, Montefiore Medical Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA.
Abstract:
AQP4 water channels are thought to be the target of autoimmune attack in neuromyelitis optica-spectrum disorders (NMOsd). AQP4 are highly expressed on ventricular ependyma. The objective of this study was to describe a novel pattern of linear, 'pencil-thin' enhancement of ventricular ependyma in NMOsd. We report two NMOsd patients with pencil-thin ependymal enhancement along the frontal and occipital horns of lateral ventricles. Differential diagnosis of ependymal enhancement should include NMOsd alongside with infectious and neoplastic etiologies. Pencil-thin ependymal enhancement may be a helpful radiological marker of NMOsd that can be used to differentiate this condition from multiple sclerosis.
Related Concept Videos
Encephalitis ll: Pathophysiology
Nervous Tissue: Myelin
Schwann cells begin to form myelin sheaths around axons during fetal development. They wrap around a small...
Multiple Sclerosis l: Introduction

