Spinal cord demyelination combined with hyperhomocysteinemia: a case report.
Hyperhomocysteinemia (HHcy) has been recognized as an independent risk factor for atherosclerotic vascular disease. Here we report a patient who suffered from spinal cord demyelination combined with HHcy. The patient was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of acute myelitis. However, hormone therapy was ineffective. Further investigations revealed that he had HHcy and a homozygous mutation of the gene encoding methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) c.677C>T, which is a key enzyme involved in homocysteine metabolism. In view of these findings, we treated the patient with B vitamins and his symptoms gradually improved. Spinal magnetic resonance imaging performed 3 months after onset showed near recovery of the lesion. To our knowledge, similar reports are rare.
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Meimei
M
Hao
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Yan
Y
Zhang
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Shuangxing
S
Hou
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Yanling
Y
Chen
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Ming
M
Shi
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Gang
G
Zhao
Department of Neurology, Xijing Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, People's Republic of China.
Yanchun
Y
Deng
demyelination; homocysteine; hyperhomocysteinemia; methylation; methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase