Acute progressive paraplegia in heroin-associated myelopathy.

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Acute progressive paraplegia in heroin-associated myelopathy.

J Clin Neurosci. 2018 Feb 23;:

Authors: Mahoney KW, Romba M, Gailloud P, Izbudak I, Saylor D

Abstract
As the opioid epidemic continues, understanding manifestations of abuse, including heroin-associated myelopathy remains essential. Here we describe a young man with a past medical history significant for polysubstance abuse who developed acute-onset, rapidly progressive myelopathy after resumption of intravenous heroin use. He had significant spinal cord involvement with findings suggestive of heroin-associated myelopathy. The salient features of this case include diffusion imaging of the spine and spinal angiography supporting a possible vasculopathy as the pathophysiologic mechanism underlying heroin-associated myelopathy. Additionally, CSF studies showed the transition from a neutrophilic pleocytosis to a lymphocytic pleocytosis suggesting an inflammatory component.

PMID: 29483006 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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