The Neurosyphilis Related Acute Transverse Myelitis: A Rare Case and Clinical Evaluation

Transverse Myelitis as a Manifestation of Neurosyphilis

Abstract

Syphilis is a bacterial inflammation of Treponema pallidum. Neurosyphilis is a poorly understood complication and might occur any time during the course of infection. Myelitis is an uncommon complication of neurosyphilis and have been infrequently reported in the literature. A 63-year old male patient was admitted to the hospital with the symptoms of upper and lower motor neuron diseases. Serological diagnosting tests were positive in both serume and CSF. His toracal spinal MRI revealed an intramedullary high-signal intensity lesion on T10 and diagnosed as syphilitic myelitis and treated 10 days with ceftriaxone 2g/day. During 6 months of the follow-up his neurological and neuroimaging findings were recovered. If the primary infection is untreated, inflammation of CNS arteries end up with store-mimic manifestations of meningovascular syphilis. Due to sphilitic myelitic cases are frequent in the literature, neurosyphilis should be in mind for the differential diagnosis the reason why it could be treatable.