TITLE:
Hepatic Myelopathy with Painful Tonic Spasm: A Case Report
AUTHORS:
Huanquan Liao, Zhichao Yan, Guidian Li, Hua Hong
KEYWORDS:
Hepatic Myelopathy, Painful Tonic Spasms, Upper Motor Neuron Syndrome
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.2 No.10,
October
27,
2015
ABSTRACT: Hepatic myelopathy (HM) is a rare neurological complication of chronic
liver disease, causing progressive spastic paraplegia or quadriplegia in the
extremities with minimal sensory or sphincter impairment. In this article, the
authors present one additional case with HM, with an exceptional clinical
picture of painful tonic spasms within both thighs as the main complaint. A reduction in pain coinciding with a
reduction in spasticity from treatments such as baclofen suggests a causal
relationship between the two. We stress the importance of early recognizing
this symptom before the spinal cord damage becomes irreversible.