RESUMEN
Disease of the spinal cord is called myelopathy which are frequently devastating. They produce motor weakness in the form of quadriplegia or paraplegia, sensory impairment, with a definite anatomical level, and loss of sphincteric function far beyond the site of damage. Many spinal cord diseases are reversible if known and treated at an early stage. Purpose of this study is to evaluate clinical presentation and aetiology of myelopathic patients on the basis of history, clinical examination and investigations. Patients getting admission in indoor of Medicine, Neuromedicine and Neurosurgery units of Rajshahi Medical College Hospital, Rajshahi, Bangladesh from March 2013 to August 2013, having complains of spastic paraplegia and quadriplegia or flaccid type of paralysis with sensory level or bowel bladder disturbance. This cross-sectional descriptive study was done with total 44 myelopathic patients were evaluated. Out of 44 patients, 75% were male and 25% were female (ratio 3:1), mean age 35±13.9 years (range 13-65 years). Among them 54.5% patients had paraparesis and 45.5% patients had quadriparesis. Sensory disturbance had 70.45%, 68.18% had urinary sphincter disturbance and 22.72% had bladder sphincter disturbance. Among the aetiology of myelopathy the commonest cause was cervical spondylotic myelopathy 31.8%, second cause was acute transverse myelitis 20.5% and third cause was Pott's disease 18.2%. It was observed that majority (75%) of them had compressive type and 25% patients had non-compressive type of involvement. Myelopathy was three times more common in male than female. Cervical spondylotic myelopathy & transverse myelopathy was the main aetiology of compressive and non compressive myelopathy respectively.
