Extensive spinal cord involvement in magnetic resonance imaging evaluation on schistosomal myelitis

The diagnosis of schistosomal myelitis (SM) is frequently presumptive because no findings from any complementary examination are pathognomonic for this disease. The present report describes some abnormalities seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of a series of SM patients and discusse...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Claudio Henrique Fernandes Vidal, Maria Lucia Brito Ferreira, Hildo Rocha Cirne de Azevedo Filho, Fernando Viana Gurgel, Alessandra Mertens Brainer-Lima
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Thieme Revinter Publicações 2012-03-01
Series:Arquivos de Neuro-Psiquiatria
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2012000300011&lng=en&tlng=en
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The diagnosis of schistosomal myelitis (SM) is frequently presumptive because no findings from any complementary examination are pathognomonic for this disease. The present report describes some abnormalities seen on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluation of a series of SM patients and discusses their etiopathogenesis. Methods: This study evaluated SM patients at the time of their diagnosis. These patients routinely underwent MRI on all segments of the spinal cord. Results: Thirteen patients were evaluated. The MRI was abnormal in 12 (92.3%) of them. In 11 patients (84.61%), the damage reached two or more spinal segments. Conclusions: MRI was an important diagnostic aid in this sample, because of the high rate of abnormalities detected. The tissue damage observed on MRI was extensive in the majority of the patients.
ISSN:1678-4227