PubMed1991
A 47-year old female had a fever about 39 degrees C of unknown origin for 2 days. Soon she developed pain in the bilateral lower extremities followed by gait disturbance and vesicorectal disorder. Prednisolone was administered with an improvement. However, she developed paresthesia in the upper extremities 1 month later, and then gradually paraplegia another 5 month later. Nystagmus, painful tonic spasm, facial spasm, and visual disorder also appeared. These symptoms repeatedly exacerbated and remitted with administration of prednisolone. We examined this patient at age 53, CBC, blood chemistry, urinalysis, ECG and chest X-ray were normal. Serum IgG and IgA level were decreased. CSF protein content and IgG level were remarkably increased. EEG showed diffuse theta activities. MRI studies revealed high intensity signals in the putamen, deep frontal and periventricular white matter region. Pulse therapy of methylprednisolone was performed effectively for several times. She died of respiratory and heart failure 6 years after the onset. Autopsy revealed bilateral continuous cystic lesions along the lateral ventricles extending from the frontal tips of anterior horns to the occipital tips of posterior, and further, to the temporal tips of lateral horns; the caudate-callosal angeles (Wetterwinkel) were more severely and widely affected bilaterally. There were also old and fresh demyelinated lesions scattered in the cerebral white matter, brainstem, cerebellum, and spinal cord. Although this case is considered to have typical MS from clinical and pathological findings, there have been only a few reports of MS with such continuous cystic lesions in the cerebral hemispheres as seen in this case.