Onset | MRI sagittal | Differential | |
Hyperacute | Long | Spinal cord infarction | |
Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (rare; documented only in AQP4-antibody positive cases) | |||
Haemorrhage | |||
Short | Haemorrhage | ||
Acute/subacute | Long | Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder | |
Autoimmune | |||
Infective (most commonly viral) | |||
Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis | |||
Paraneoplastic | |||
Sarcoidosis | |||
Vascular | Spinal cord infarction | ||
Malformation | |||
Metabolic | |||
Neoplastic | Ependymoma | ||
Short | Multiple sclerosis (up to 32% of clinically isolated syndrome) | ||
Infective | Viral | ||
Tuberculosis | |||
Parasitic | |||
Autoimmune | |||
Sarcoidosis | |||
Atypical neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (14%) | |||
Chronic/progressive | Long | Paraneoplastic | |
Sarcoidosis | |||
Atypical multiple sclerosis (long-standing or primary progressive) | |||
Chronic infection | Syphilis | ||
HTLV-1 | |||
HIV | |||
Vascular | Malformation | ||
Metabolic | |||
Neoplastic | Ependymoma Astrocytoma | ||
Short | Sarcoidosis | ||
Multiple sclerosis (primary or secondary progressive) | |||
Neoplastic | Astrocytoma | ||
Ependymoma | |||
Metastatic | |||
Relapsing/fluctuating | Long | Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder | |
Vascular | Malformation | ||
Sarcoidosis | |||
Short | Multiple sclerosis |
AQP4, aquaporin-4; HTLV-1, human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1.