Abnormalities of spinal magnetic resonance images implicate clinical variability in human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I-associated myelopathy

This study investigated the role of human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I HTLV-I infection in 11 patients who developed slowly progressive myelopathy with abnormal spinal cord lesions. The authors performed clinical and neuroradiological examinations and calculated the odds that an HTLV-I-infected individual of a specific genotype, age, and provirus load has HTLV-I-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP). Anti-HTLV-I antibodies were present in both the serum and cerebrospinal fluid in all of the patients. Abnormal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lesions were classified as cervical to thoracic type (CT type), cervical type (C type), and thoracic type (T type). In each type, there was swelling of the spinal cords with high-intensity lesions, which were located mainly in bilateral posterior columns, posterior horns, or lateral columns. Virological and immunological analyses revealed that all patients showed a high risk of developing HAM/TSP. These 11 patients may have developed HAM/TSP, as manifested by spinal cord abnormalities shown on MRI. These MRIs implicate clinical variability of HAM/TSP, which may indicate active-early stages of HAM/TSP lesions.