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. 2013 Dec 31;44(4):232-5.
eCollection 2013 Oct.

Toxoplasmosis of the spinal cord in an immunocompromised patient: case report and review of the literature

Carolina Rodríguez  1 , Ernesto Martínez  2 , Guillermo Bolívar  3 , Sandra Sánchez  4 , Edwin Carrascal  1
Affiliations

Toxoplasmosis of the spinal cord in an immunocompromised patient: case report and review of the literature

Carolina Rodríguez et al. Colomb Med (Cali). .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

We, herein, describe an HIV-positive patient with toxoplasmosis of the spinal cord. We also carried out a comprehensive literature review of this topic, with emphasis on the diagnostic tools and therapeutic approach.

Se presenta el caso de un paciente seropositivo para VIH con diagnóstico de toxoplasmosis medular en conjunto con la revisión de la literatura de los pocos casos descritos hasta la fecha, con énfasis en las claves diagnósticas y la aproximación terapéutica.

Keywords: Spinal cord toxoplasmosis; central nervous system; myelopathy in immunocompromised patient.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the information reported.

Figures

Figure 1A:
Figure 1A:. Thoracolumbar MRI. Phase contrasted with gadolinium, evidencing peripheral enhancement of the medullar lesion in segments T10 to T12, suggesting infection due to toxoplasma. 1B: Thoracolumbar MRI. T2 sequence, evidencing heterogeneous density lesion in medullar segments T10 to T12.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Microphotograph of medullary cone with extensive perivascular lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrate over a fibrillary stroma, with caseous necrosis, abundant eosinophils, and toxoplasma-type tachyzoite. H and E 100X
Figure 3
Figure 3. Microphotograph revealing numerous toxoplasma tachyzoites through immunoperoxidase reaction by using a specific monoclonal antibody against Toxoplasma gondii (Dako). 100X.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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