transverse myelitis as a rare neurological complication of coronavirus disease 2019: a case report and literature review

The novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) is primarily a respiratory virus. however, an increasing number of neurologic complications associated with this virus have been reported, e.g., transverse myelitis (tm). we report a case of a 39-year-old man admitted to namazi hospital affiliated with shiraz university of medical sciences, shiraz, iran. in december 2020, the patient was infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19). during hospitalization, the patient suffered from sudden onset of paraplegia, and urinary retention, and had a t6-t7 sensory level. tm was diagnosed and an extensive workup was performed to rule out other etiologies. eventually, para-infectious tm associated with covid-19 was concluded. the patient received pulse methylprednisolone therapy of 1 g/day for 10 consecutive days followed by seven sessions of plasma exchange without a favorable response. the patient then underwent regular physical rehabilitation and tapering oral administration of prednisolone 1 mg/kg. as a result, weakness in the lower extremities improved slightly after six months. overall, we suspect a correlation between covid-19 and tm, however, further studies are required to substantiate the association.