Encephalomyelopathy associated with HTLV-I: A primary disease or coexisting with multiple sclerosis?

• Autor(a) principal: Champs,Ana Paula Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2013
• Outros Autores: Passos,Valéria Maria de Azeredo, Barreto,Sandhi Maria, Caramelli,Paulo, Melo,Carla Meirelles de, Carvalho,Guilherme, Menezes,Miriam Melo, Ribas,João Gabriel Ramos
• Tipo de documento: Relatório
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Dementia & Neuropsychologia
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1980-57642013000400439
• topic: HTLV -I; tropical spastic paraparesis; multiple sclerosis; cognition disorder; magnetic resonance imaging.

ABSTRACT HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP) is the most common neurological manifestation of HTLV-I, causing progressive weakness, sensory disturbance, and sphincter dysfunction. Although motor disorders have been well described, few studies have associated cognitive disorders and HTLV-I infection. In areas endemic for HTLV-I infection, the differential diagnosis between HAM/TSP and other myelopathy etiologies can be difficult, particularly if the patient has signs and symptoms of brain involvement, since seropositive HTLV-I patients can present other neurological diseases. Here, we report one case initially diagnosed as Multiple Sclerosis (MS) which, upon further investigation, was found to be HTLV-I seropositive.