Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2021 Sep:69:102749.
doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102749. Epub 2021 Aug 23.

Post COVID-19 transverse myelitis; a case report with review of literature

Shwan Abubakr Ahmad  1 , Karokh H Salih  1 , Shaho Fatah Ahmed  1 , Fahmi H Kakamad  1   2   3 , Abdulwahid M Salh  1   4 , Marwan Nasih Hassan  1   3 , Karukh K Mohammed  1   3 , Shvan H Mohammed  3 , Rawezh Q Salih  1   3 , Dahat A Hussein  1   3
Affiliations
Case Reports

Post COVID-19 transverse myelitis; a case report with review of literature

Shwan Abubakr Ahmad et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). 2021 Sep.

Abstract

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Recently, various complications have been reported. The aim of the current study is to report a rare case of transverse myelitis after recovering from COVID-19.

Case report: A 34-year-old lady, presented with inability to walk for one day duration due to the lower limb weakness. After two weeks from the recovery of COVID-19; she developed progressive intermittent leg pain, paresthesia and weakness on both sides. Brain and cervical MRI showed evidence of a short segment inflammatory enhancing lesion at upper cervical region (at C1 level). The patient was treated conservatively.

Discussion: Transverse myelitis has many different causes, it occurs as an autoimmune phenomenon post-infection and vaccination, or it may result from direct infection or acquired demyelinating disease like multiple sclerosis.

Conclusion: Although it is a sporadic finding, SARS-CoV-2 can cause transverse myelitis. The condition responds to medical therapy.

Keywords: Corona virus disease 2019; Neurological dysfunction; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict to be declared.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Pretreatment MRI showing short segment transverse myelitis.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Post treatment MRI showing disappearance of previous inflammatory lesion at upper cervical segment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lai C.C., Shih T.P., Ko W.C., Tang H.J., Hsueh P.R. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): the epidemic and the challenges. Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents. 2020;55(3):105924. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization 2020. https://covid19.who.int/ Accessed on April 23.
    1. Zachariadis A., Tulbu A., Strambo D., Dumoulin A., Di Virgilio G. Transverse myelitis related to COVID-19 infection. J. Neurol. 2020;267(12):3459–3461. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sriwastava S., Kataria S., Tandon M., Patel J., Patel R., Jowkar A. Guillain Barré Syndrome and its variants as a manifestation of COVID-19: a systemic review of case report and case series. J. Neurol. Sci. 2020:117263. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Scheidl E., Canseco D.D., Hadji‐Naumov A., Bereznai B. Guillain‐Barr é syndrome during SARS‐CoV‐2 pandemic: a case report and review of recent literature. J. Peripher. Nerv. Syst. 2020;25(2):204–207. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types