Spinal Arachnoiditis

Clinical Features

Duke and Hashimoto (1974) described a Canadian kindred of Japanese ancestry in which 6 members of 3 generations had adult onset of progressive spastic paraparesis with prominent radicular pain and patchy numbness. Myelography showed obstruction to flow of contrast material in the thoracic area with multiple filling defects and fragmentation of the contrast material. Exploratory surgery showed band-like fibrous thickening of the spinal arachnoid. An analogy to Peyronie disease (171000) and Dupuytren contracture (126900) was made.

Inheritance

Father-to-son transmission was noted in the family with spinal arachnoiditis reported by Duke and Hashimoto (1974), suggesting autosomal dominant inheritance.