Suggest Myelomacia Treatment?
Initial treatment is physiotherapy and medical.
Detailed Answer:
Hi,
Thank you for posting your query.
Myelomalacia is an MRI finding, where a part of spinal cord appears hyperintense (white in clour) on T2Weighted sequence. This represents an area of spinal cord, which is partly damaged due to the spinal stenosis, and compression of the spinal cord.
The symptoms include neck pain, tingling and numbness of arms, weakness of arms, etc.
Initial treatment includes physiotherapy, with neck extension exercises and use of soft cervical collar.
For pain and tingling, medications include pregabalin or gabapentin.
Surgery may be required in very severe cases of spinal cord compression.
I hope it helps. Please get back if you have any more queries.
Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist
what kind of treatment do I need? history was sent earlier with a what should I do question.
I am past initial treatment and have a severe case. What are my options at this point?
Surgery is the option at this stage.
Detailed Answer:
Thank you for getting back with more details.
In my opinion, stem cell treatment for spinal cord myelomalacia can be at best described as experimental and there is no hard evidence supporting its use. Also, FDA has not approved this indication of stem cell treatment. So, it is not possible for someone to claim a cure for myelomalacia with stem cell treatment.
Also, as of today, myelomalacia is irreversible, as it indicates damage to nerves in the spinal cord, and nerves in the spinal cord do not regenerate by any means.
The current accepted treatment for severe spinal stenosis leading to myelomalacia is surgery. Whether the fixation with screws is required or not, depends on the MRI picture of the bones (better to do if bones are weak), age of patient and surgeon's preference.
There is no truth in that myelomalacia leads to death. I have seen about 500 cases of myelomalacia so far, and none have died.
Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology)