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A follow-up study on spastic paraparesis in Japanese HAM/TSP
Y Kuroda1, M Yukitake, K Kurohara
1Department of Internal Medicine, Saga Medical School, Japan.
Journal of the Neurological Sciences
|October 1, 1995
Abstract:
We followed 24 patients with HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) for 4-12 years (mean 7 years) and assessed longitudinal changes of their spastic paraparesis by Kurtzke's Disability Status Scale (DSS). The DSS score of spastic paraparesis was unchanged in 18 patients (75%), advanced (worsened) by two in 1 patient and by one in 3 patients, and declined (improved) by one in 2 patients during the follow-up period. The results demonstrated that HAM presents with a variety of clinical courses including spontaneous improvement.