title: Development of HTLV-I-associated myelopathy after blood transfusion in a patient with aplastic anemia and a recipient of a renal transplant.
abstract: We report the development of rapid progressive HTLV-I-associated myelopathy (HAM) after blood transfusion in two immunosuppressed patients, one of whom had aplastic anemia and the other was the recipient of a renal transplant receiving immunosuppressive chemotherapy. Spastic paraparesis developed 11 or 16 months after transfusion and rapidly progressed to a wheelchair-bound state. The present 2 cases suggest that the coexistent immunosuppression may play an important role in the rapid development of HAM in transfusion-acquired cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Saga Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takashima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yukitake
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sakemi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000741:Anemia, Aplastic / Q000150:complications*; D001803:Blood Transfusion; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015493:Paraparesis, Tropical Spastic / Q000473:pathology*; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000209:etiology