Transverse myelopathy following intrathecal administration of chemotherapy

Teh HS, Fadilah SAW, Leong CF
Correspondence: Dr Teh Hiok Seng, hiokseng2005@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
Transverse myelopathy is one of the rare complications following administration of intrathecal chemotherapy. We report two cases of transverse myelopathy following administration of intrathecal methotrexate and cytarabine arabinoside. One patient was a 17-year-old Malay man who had lymphoblastic lymphoma in the leukaemic phase, while the other patient was a 40-year-old Malay man with relapsed Hodgkin's lymphoma. Both cases demonstrated variability in onset of symptoms, clinical progression and final outcome from the complication.

Keywords: chemotherapy complications, cytarabine arabinoside, intrathecal methotrexate, transverse myelopathy
Singapore Med J 2007; 48(2): e46–e49