An aetiological survey of paraplegia in Accra

Sixty-four cases of non-traumatic paraplegia in Accra, Ghana, were investigated. The commonest cause of paraplegia was tuberculosis (29.69%). Next were transverse myelitis and the Guillain-Barré syndrome, each accounting for 10.94% of cases. Parasitic causes were not seen in this study. The other important causes are neoplastic conditions (14.07%) and degenerative conditions namely, cervical spondylosis with myelopathy (12.5%), and motor neurone disease (6.25%). It is concluded that the major causes of non-traumatic paraplegia in Accra are related to non-parasitic microbial infections (51.57%).