Acute transverse myelopathy successfully treated with plasmapheresis and prednisone in a patient with primary sjöugren's syndrome

✍ Scribed by Yrjöu T. Konttinen; Esko Kinnunen; Martin Von Bonsdorff; Petra Lillqvist; Ilkka Immonen; Ville Bergroth; Margaretha Segerberg-Konttinen; Claes Friman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1987
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 591 KB
• Volume: 30
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-3591
• DOI: 10.1002/art.1780300314

✦ Synopsis

We report a case of acute transverse myelopathy in a patient with primary Sjogren's syndrome of 3 years duration. Our patient's acute transverse myelopathy developed within 1 week and resulted in complete paraparesis below the mamillary level. Extensive laboratory investigation ruled out viral, bacterial, and fungal etiology, Guillain-Barre syndrome, poliomyelitis, and multiple sclerosis. At diagnosis, treatment was initiated immediately with prednisone (80 mg/day) and plasmapheresis, which was performed as a first-aid measure. Improvement was noted as early as 10 days after the start of therapy. Within 51/t months of the first symptoms of paralysis, the patient walked without difficulty and returned to her normal activities. A causal relationship between plasmapheresis/prednisone ther-From the Fourth Department of Medicine,