title: Paraplegia treated with blood transfusion.
abstract: Extramedullary hematopoiesis is a compensatory response in patients with thalassemia and other chronic anemia and can result in compressive myelopathy, if untreated. Two young adults with history of thalassemia presented with symptoms of spinal cord compression. Presence of extramedullary hematopoiesis was confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging. Both the patients were treated with blood hypertransfusion and showed improvement clinically and radiologically. Although there are various options in the management of such condition, including decompression surgery and radiation treatment, hypertransfusion can be very effective even in severe compression of the spinal cord. Hypertransfusion should be tried as the first line of management in patients with thalassemia presenting with compressive myelopathy to decrease the bulk of extramedullary hematopoietic tissue.
authors: Department of Neurology, Sri Aurobindo Medical College, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India. ajoysodani@yahoo.com
authors: Ajoy
authors: A
authors: Sodani
authors: Ashish
authors: A
authors: Chawla
authors: Amit
authors: A
authors: Maheshwari
authors: Mayoor
authors: M
authors: Naigaonkar
authors: Vinod
authors: V
authors: Porwal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010264:Paraplegia / Q000628:therapy*; D055815:Young Adult