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Acute human T-lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy: a clinicopathologic study
Naoki Kasahata1, Junichi Shiota, Yumi Miyazawa
1Department of Neurology, Center for Cerebrovascular Disorders, Ushioda General Hospital, Yokohama, Japan.
Background:
Recently, acute human T-lymphotropic virus type 1-associated myelopathy (HAM) was reported clinically without pathologic information. We report an autopsy case of acute HAM.
Objective:
To report the case of a 52-year-old man with acute-onset gait disturbance followed by rapidly progressive paraplegia, who died 9 months later.
Results:
The postmortem study showed swelling of the thoracic spinal cord. Histologically, there was inflammation and vacuolation in the white matter.
Conclusion:
We propose that these pathologic findings, mimicking tropical spastic paraparesis, may represent the characteristic pathologic features of acute HAM.