Opsoclonus myoclonus syndrome (OMS), also known as opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia (OMA), is a rare
neurologicaldisorder of unknown cause which appears to be the result of an
autoimmune process involving the
nervous system. It is an extremely rare condition, affecting as few as 1 in 10,000,000 people per year. It affects 2 to 3% of children with
neuroblastoma and has been reported to occur with
celiac disease and diseases of neurologic and autonomic dysfunction.[2][3]
opsoclonus (rapid, involuntary, multivectorial (horizontal and vertical), unpredictable, conjugate fast eye movements without inter
saccadic [quick rotation of the eyes] intervals)
myoclonus (brief, involuntary twitching of a muscle or a group of muscles)
aphasia (a language disorder in which there is an impairment of speech and of comprehension of speech, caused by brain damage)
mutism (a language disorder in which a person does not speak despite evidence of speech ability in the past, often part of a larger neurological or psychiatric disorder)
emotional disturbances (including fits of
rage[7])
About half of all OMS cases occur in association with
neuroblastoma (a cancer of the sympathetic nervous system usually occurring in infants and children).[8]
Disease course and clinical subtypes
In most cases, OMS starts with an acute flare-up of physical symptoms within days or weeks, but some less obvious symptoms such as irritability and
malaise may begin weeks or months earlier.[citation needed]
Cause
In children, most cases are associated with neuroblastoma and most of the others are suspected to be associated with a low-grade neuroblastoma that spontaneously regressed before detection. In adults, most cases are associated with breast carcinoma or small-cell lung carcinoma.[9] It is one of the few
paraneoplastic (meaning 'indirectly caused by cancer') syndromes that occurs in both children and adults, although the mechanism of immune dysfunction underlying the adult syndrome is probably quite different.[citation needed]
Because OMS is so rare and occurs at an average age of 19 months (6 to 36 months), a
diagnosis can be slow. Some cases have been diagnosed as having been caused by a
virus. After a diagnosis of OMS is made, an associated neuroblastoma is discovered in half of cases, with median delay of 3 months.[12]
There is no known definitive cure for OMS. However, several drugs have proven to be effective in their treatment.
Some of medication used to treat the symptoms are:
ACTH has shown improvements in symptoms but can result in an incomplete recovery with residual deficits.
Corticosteroids (such as prednisone or methylprednisolone) used at high dosages (500 mg - 2 g per day
intravenously for a course of 3 to 5 days) can accelerate regression of symptoms. Subsequent very gradual tapering with pills generally follows. Most patients require high doses for months to years before tapering.
Currently, there are no clinically established laboratory investigations available to predict prognosis or therapeutic response.[citation needed]
Tumors in children who develop OMS tend to be more mature, showing favorable histology and absence of n-myc oncogene amplification than similar tumors in children without symptoms of OMS.[17] Involvement of local lymph nodes is common, but these children rarely have distant metastases and their prognosis, in terms of direct morbidity and mortality effects from the tumor, is excellent.[18] The three-year survival rate for children with non-metastatic neuroblastoma and OMS was 100% according to Children's Cancer Group data (gathered from 675 patients diagnosed between 1980 and 1994); three-year survival in comparable patients with OMS was 77%.[19] Although the symptoms of OMS are typically steroid-responsive and recovery from acute symptoms of OMS can be quite good, children often experience lifelong neurologic sequelae that impair motor, cognitive, language, and behavioral development.[20][21]
Most children will experience a relapsing form of OMS, though a minority will have a monophasic course and may be more likely to recover without residual deficits.[22] Viral infection may play a role in the reactivation of disease in some patients who had previously experienced remission, possibly by expanding the memory B cell population.[23] Studies have generally asserted that 70-80% of children with OMS will have long-term neurologic, cognitive, behavioral, developmental, and academic impairment. Since neurologic and developmental difficulties have not been reported as a consequence of neuroblastoma or its treatment, it is thought that these are exclusively due to the immune mechanism underlying OMS.[24]
One study concludes that: "Patients with OMA and neuroblastoma have excellent survival but a high risk of neurologic sequelae. Favourable disease stage correlates with a higher risk for development of neurologic sequelae. The role of anti-neuronal antibodies in late sequelae of OMA needs further clarification".[19]
Another study states that: "Residual behavioral, language, and cognitive problems occurred in the majority".[25]
Research
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) conducts and supports research on various movement disorders, including opsoclonus myoclonus. These studies are focused on finding ways to prevent, treat, and cure these disorders, as well as increasing knowledge about them.[26]
Nomenclature
OMS was first described by
Marcel Kinsbourne in 1962.[27] (The term 'Opsoclonus' was coined by Orzechowski in 1913, but it was classically described and associated with neuroblastoma by Kinsbourne). Other names for OMS include:[citation needed]
^Deconinck, N; Scaillon, M; Segers, V; Groswasser, J. J.; Dan, B (2006). "Opsoclonus-myoclonus associated with celiac disease". Pediatric Neurology. 34 (4): 312–4.
doi:
10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2005.08.034.
PMID16638509.
^Hall J. E., Guyton A. C. (2006): Textbook of medical physiology, 11th edition. Elsevier Saunders, St. Louis, Mo,
ISBN0-7216-0240-1.
^"Strabismus". The Lecturio Medical Concept Library. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
^"Pediatric Vomiting". The Lecturio Medical Concept Library. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
^Pranzatelli, M. R.; Tate, E. D.; Dukart, W. S.; Flint, M. J.; Hoffman, M. T.; Oksa, A. E. (2005). "Sleep disturbance and rage attacks in opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome: response to trazodone". The Journal of Pediatrics. 147 (3): 372–8.
CiteSeerX10.1.1.531.9696.
doi:
10.1016/j.jpeds.2005.05.016.
PMID16182678.
^"Neuroblastoma". The Lecturio Medical Concept Library. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
^Cooper R, Khakoo Y, Matthay KK, Lukens JN, Seeger RC, Stram DO, Gerbing RB, Nakagawa A, Shimada H (June 2001). "Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome in neuroblastoma: histopathologic features-a report from the Children's Cancer Group". Med. Pediatr. Oncol. 36 (6): 623–9.
doi:
10.1002/mpo.1139.
PMID11344493.
^Gesundheit B, Smith CR, Gerstle JT, Weitzman SS, Chan HS (September 2004). "Ataxia and secretory diarrhea: two unusual paraneoplastic syndromes occurring concurrently in the same patient with ganglioneuroblastoma". J. Pediatr. Hematol. Oncol. 26 (9): 549–52.
doi:
10.1097/01.mph.0000139414.66455.a4.
PMID15342979.
S2CID38910287.
^
abRudnick E, Khakoo Y, Antunes NL, Seeger RC, Brodeur GM, Shimada H, Gerbing RB, Stram DO, Matthay KK (June 2001). "Opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome in neuroblastoma: clinical outcome and antineuronal antibodies-a report from the Children's Cancer Group Study". Med. Pediatr. Oncol. 36 (6): 612–22.
doi:
10.1002/mpo.1138.
PMID11344492.
^Hayward K, Jeremy RJ, Jenkins S, Barkovich AJ, Gultekin SH, Kramer J, Crittenden M, Matthay KK (October 2001). "Long-term neurobehavioral outcomes in children with neuroblastoma and opsoclonus-myoclonus-ataxia syndrome: relationship to MRI findings and anti-neuronal antibodies". J. Pediatr. 139 (4): 552–9.
doi:
10.1067/mpd.2001.118200.
PMID11598603.
^Pranzatelli, Michael R. (1992). "The neurobiology of the opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome". Clinical Neuropharmacology. 15 (3): 186–288.
CiteSeerX10.1.1.552.7340.
doi:
10.1097/00002826-199206000-00002.
PMID1394242. myoclonic encephalopathy (3-10) of infants (7,11-15) or childhood (16,17), dancing eyes (18,19), dancing feet (20), infantile polymyoclonia (21-23) or polymyoclonus syndrome (20,24-26), opsoclonus syndrome (27,28), acute cerebellar encephalopathy (29-32), encephalitis (33), or ataxia (34), syndrome of rapid irregular movements of eyes and limbs in childhood (35), oculocerebellomyoclonic syndrome (36-38), Kinsbourne syndrome (9,39-41), opsoclonus, body tremulousness, and benign encephalitis (42-43), syndrome of ocular oscillations and truncal myoclonus (44), encephalopathy associated with occult neuroblastoma (45), opsomyoclonus (46-48), or opsoclonus-myoclonus (49-55), opsoclonic cerebellopathy (56,57), or simply opsoclonus (58-60). The description opsoclonus, myoclonus, ataxia, (61) and encephalopathy (62) may be the most complete, but opsoclonus-myoclonus will be used here.
Further reading
Mitchell WG, Davalos-Gonzalez Y, Brumm VL, Aller SK, Burger E, Turkel SB, Borchert MS, Hollar S, Padilla S (January 2002). "Opsoclonus-ataxia caused by childhood neuroblastoma: developmental and neurologic sequelae". Pediatrics. 109 (1): 86–98.
doi:
10.1542/peds.109.1.86.
PMID11773546.
S2CID2147789.
Pranzatelli MR, Travelstead AL, Tate ED, Allison TJ, Moticka EJ, Franz DN, Nigro MA, Parke JT, Stumpf DA, Verhulst SJ (May 2004). "B- and T-cell markers in opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome: immunophenotyping of CSF lymphocytes". Neurology. 62 (9): 1526–32.
doi:
10.1212/WNL.62.9.1526.
PMID15136676.
S2CID71988257.
Rothenberg AB, Berdon WE, D'Angio GJ, Yamashiro DJ, Cowles RA (July 2009). "The association between neuroblastoma and opsoclonus-myoclonus syndrome: a historical review". Pediatr Radiol. 39 (7): 723–6.
doi:
10.1007/s00247-009-1282-x.
PMID19430769.
S2CID24523263.