Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Causes
By Mayo Clinic staffResearchers believe that transverse myelitis often occurs when your body's immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues, resulting in inflammation and injury to the fatty insulating material that covers nerve cell fibers (myelin) within your spinal cord. Diseases of the central nervous system frequently cause transverse myelitis. These include:
- Multiple sclerosis. Multiple sclerosis occurs when your immune system mistakenly attacks the myelin sheath surrounding nerves in your spinal cord and brain, resulting in areas of scarring (scleroses). Mild attacks of transverse myelitis may be the first sign or represent a relapse of multiple sclerosis. Transverse myelitis occurring as a sign or symptom of multiple sclerosis usually manifests on one side of your body only.
- Neuromyelitis optica. This refers to a condition that causes injury and inflammation of the spinal cord (myelitis) and of the optic nerve (optic neuritis), the nerve in your eye that transmits information to your brain. Transverse myelitis occurring as a symptom of neuromyelitis optica usually affects both sides of your body. Optic neuritis may cause pain and temporary vision loss. However, some people with neuromyelitis optica may not experience optic neuritis and may only have recurrent episodes of transverse myelitis.
In instances of transverse myelitis following an infection, the inflammation within the spinal cord may arise as a result of your body's immune reaction to the virus or bacteria. Or, some viruses may directly invade the spinal cord and produce symptoms of transverse myelitis. Such viruses include:
- Varicella zoster. This virus causes chickenpox and shingles, a reactivation of the virus years after chickenpox.
- Herpes simplex. Herpes viruses are associated with cold sores that develop on your face (herpes simplex virus type 1) as well as genital lesions (herpes simplex virus type 2).
Transverse myelitis occasionally develops in people who have other autoimmune diseases. These include:
- Lupus. Lupus is an inflammatory disease that may cause swollen, painful joints, a skin rash and other symptoms.
- Sjogren's syndrome. This autoimmune disease often causes dry eyes and a dry mouth.
Rarely, transverse myelitis may develop following certain vaccinations, including those for chickenpox and rabies. It's unclear how transverse myelitis and vaccinations are related.
Other conditions that alter normal patterns of blood flow in your spine may cause signs and symptoms similar to those of transverse myelitis. These include:
- Blood vessel abnormalities
- Hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis)
- Tumors that develop in your spinal cord or radiation therapy used to treat such tumors
Doctors rule out such disorders before arriving at a diagnosis of transverse myelitis.
- Transverse myelitis fact sheet. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/transversemyelitis/detail_transversemyelitis.htm. Accessed Nov. 1, 2008.
- Eisen A. Disorders affecting the spinal cord. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 1, 2008.
- Kerr D. Transverse myelitis. In: Johnson RT, et al. Current Therapy in Neurologic Disease. 6th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: C.V. Mosby; 2001. http://www.scribd.com/doc/2581918/KerrCurrent-therapy-chapter-with-figures. Accessed Nov. 1, 2008.
- Petti CA. Molecular diagnosis of central nervous system infections. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 1, 2008.
- Acute transverse myelitis. The Merck Manuals Online Medical Library: The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec16/ch224/ch224b.html. Accessed Nov. 1, 2008.
- Weinshenker BG, et al. Neuromyelitis optica IgG predicts relapse following longitudinally extensive transverse myelitis. Annals of Neurology: 2006;59:566.
- Jacob A, et al. An approach to the diagnosis of acute transverse myelitis. Seminars in Neurology. 2008; 28(1):105.
- Weinshenker BG [expert opinion]. Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Oct 6, 2008.
