Non-traumatic myelopathy at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, South Africa—the influence of HIV

摘要

Background: Non-traumatic myelopathy from developing regions has been described widely. In these regions infections, mainly tuberculosis, followed by acute transverse myelitis and neoplasms, dominate. These are also regions of high HIV prevalence. In developed regions, the most prominent reported spinal cord disease in HIV/AIDS is vacuolar myelopathy (VM). Other myelopathy causes in HIV/AIDS include opportunistic infections, neoplasms, vascular lesions and metabolic disease. In developing regions, opportunistic infections are more commonly encountered with VM occurring less frequently.