Longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis following acute COVID-19 infection

Mult Scler Relat Disord. 2021 Feb:48:102723. doi: 10.1016/j.msard.2020.102723. Epub 2020 Dec 25.

Abstract

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a new illness caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). With the increasing number of confirmed cases and the accumulating clinical data, a broad spectrum of neurological complications has been reported in the literature, including encephalopathy, stroke, Guillain-Barré syndrome, meningo-encephalitis, acute necrotizing hemorrhagic encephalopathy, and inflammatory central nervous system syndromes. Here, we describe the case of a 38-year-old woman presenting with longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis, revealed by bilateral lower limb weakness, decreased sensation below the Th4 level and urinary retention, and occuring 15 days after she had been diagnosed with COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; LETM; Myelitis; SARS-CoV-2.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Letter

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • COVID-19 / complications*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Myelitis, Transverse / etiology*
  • Myelitis, Transverse / physiopathology*