Acute myeloid leukaemia masquerading as transverse myelitis

Abstract

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is known to cause paraneoplastic transverse myelitis. However, the direct invasion or extramedullary compression of the spinal cord is rare unlike in the case of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. We report the case of a young man presenting with transverse myelitis who was found to have leukaemic infiltrates on neuroimaging. The uniqueness of this being the first presentation of the patient with AML in the form of epidural infiltrates in the absence of peripheral blood count abnormalities. This highlights the importance of neuroimaging to delineate associated conditions in a suspected patient with transverse myelitis.