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%. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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". Another study states that: "Residual behavioral, language, and cognitive problems occurred in the majority". 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. Nomenclature OMS was first described by Marcel Kinsbourne in 1962. (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: Dancing Eyes-Dancing Feet syndrome Dancing Eyes syndrome (see also Nystagmus) Kinsbourne syndrome Myoclonic Encephalopathy of Infants (MEI), not to be confused with Early myoclonic encephalopathy (EME) Opsoclonic Cerebellopathy Opsoclonus-Myoclonus-Ataxia (OMA) Paraneoplastic Opsoclonus-Myoclonus Ataxia (POMA) References Further reading External links Autoimmune diseases Neurological disorders Rare syndromes