Isolated granulomatous angiitis of the spinal cord

Abstract

We describe a 31‐year‐old diabetic man, with granulomatous angiitis confined to the spinal cord, who developed rapidly progressive spastic paraplegia, clinically interpreted as being secondary to a spinal cord infarct. At the time of autopsy, vasculitis was limited to the spinal cord, without involvement of cerebral vessels. The inflammatory cells were predominantly CD4⁺ T lymphocytes, with few CD8⁺ T and B lymphocytes. The phenotypical composition of the inflammatory infiltrate is similar to that described in other granulomatous disorders such as sarcoidosis and tuberculin reaction.