Sensory ataxia in myelopathy with chronic hepatitis C virus infection

Abstract

Neurologic complications in patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection include peripheral neuropathy, acute polyradiculitis, restless leg syndrome, anterior optic neuropathy, cerebral ischemia, encephalopathologic signs, myelitis, leukoencephalopathy, and acute and progressive encephalomyelitis.1-5⇓⇓⇓⇓ As HCV infection is an important public health issue affecting 170 million people worldwide, descriptions of HCV-associated neurologic symptoms improve clinical and pathophysiological understanding. We report a patient with a reversible transverse spinal cord syndrome. A 61-year-old man presented with progressive sensory loss. He had numbness and tingling sensations that had started 6 weeks earlier in both feet and had advanced up to the level of the navel. His unbalanced gait deteriorated on closing his eyes. He had acquired a HCV (genotype 1a) infection 12 years earlier due to a blood transfusion. One year before admission the patient had completed treatment with interferon-α and ribavirin, without response. There was no history of diabetes, gastritis, weight loss, …