Myelopathy: Retrospective Evaluation of Twenty-Eight Cases
Yüksel Erdal1, Ufuk Emre1, Zeynep Selcen Dartıcı1, Osman Özgür Yalın1, Nuri Özgür Kılıçkesmez2
1Health Sciences University, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Neurology, Istanbul, Turkey
2Health Sciences University, Istanbul Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Radiology, Istanbul, Turkey
Keywords: Myelopathy, paraparesis, spinal cord damage
Abstract
Objective: Myelopathy is used to describe any neurologic deficit related to the spinal cord. Determining the etiology is important for detecting emergency situations and treating the cause.
Materials and Methods: We evaluated 28 patients who were diagnosed as having and treated for myelopathy between January 2014 and January 2015 in our hospital. The clinical and laboratory findings of the patients and their response to treatment were assessed.
Results: Of the 28 patients, 16 were male and 12 were female, the mean age was 48 years (range, 22-77 years). The most common initial symptoms were sensorial deficits and motor weakness. Demyelinating diseases were the most common diseases and multiple sclerosis was the most frequent etiology among demiyelinating diseases. Cervical spinal cord was the most frequent region involved in myelopathy episodes which was detected by magnetic resonance imaging on T2W images. We observed clinical improvement in 15 of the 20 patients who were treated with corticosteroids. In addition, vitamin B12 treatment led to clinical improvement in two patients who were diagnosed as having subacute combined degeneration.
Conclusion: The diagnosis and etiology of myelopathy and identification of rare conditions that require emergency surgery or interventional treatments are of utmost importance.