Difficulties in HAM/TSP diagnosis

• Autor(a) principal: Slater,Carla Maria Sena Andrade
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Ribeiro,Luiz Claudio Pereira, Puccioni-Sohler,Marzia
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0004-282X2012000900007
• topic: HAM/TSP; Human T-lymphotropic virus 1; diagnosis

The World Health Organization recommends the use of Osame's criterion (1990) for the diagnosis of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP). In 2006, a group of neurologists developed a Brazilian criterion that can diagnose HAM/TSP from its onset. OBJECTIVE: It was to test the agreement between both criteria. METHODS: The study included evaluation of clinical and laboratory findings of 35 patients. The ELISA, Western blot and/or polymerase chain reaction was used to search for anti-HTLV-I antibodies. The analysis of agreement was based on the calculation of Kappa. RESULTS: Concordance of 100% (Kappa=1) occurred in cases of "defined" HAM/TSP, but not in patients with "probable" diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The Brazilian criteria was as effective as Osame's criteria for the diagnosis of "defined" HAM/TSP. However, both require more specific biological markers in cerebrospinal fluid for the laboratory diagnosis of probable cases.