title: Syringomyelia and complex regional pain syndrome as complications of multiple sclerosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe a patient from Southeast Asia with the optic-spinal phenotype of multiple sclerosis who developed syringomyelia and resultant complex regional pain syndrome (formerly named reflex sympathetic dystrophy).
  
  
  METHODS
  Case report.
  
  
  METHODS
  Department of neurology at a tertiary care hospital in the Republic of Singapore.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 53-year-old Chinese woman with a history of optic neuritis developed an episode of left hemiparesis leading to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Serial neuroimaging studies revealed an active demyelinating plaque in the cervical area that later progressed into a syrinx. Over a period of 1 year she also developed signs of sympathetic dysfunction including Horner syndrome of the left eye and complex regional pain syndrome in the left hand.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A case of the optic-spinal phenotype of multiple sclerosis that is commonly observed in Southeast Asia is described. This characteristically tissue-destructive form of multiple sclerosis resulted in syringomyelia complicated by a complex regional pain syndrome. Possible pathogenic mechanisms for these associations are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute/Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. Asha_Das@notes.ttsh.gov.sg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Puvanendran
mesh_terms: D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D003389:Cranial Nerve Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D003711:Demyelinating Diseases / Q000473:pathology; D005073:Evoked Potentials, Somatosensory; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D009431:Neural Conduction / Q000502:physiology; D009900:Optic Nerve / Q000473:pathology*; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D012019:Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy / Q000150:complications*; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D013577:Syndrome; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D009626:Terminology as Topic