Differential diagnosis of transverse myelitis
| Structural | Degenerative disc disease, tumours (primary or secondary), syrinx, abscess |
| Autoimmune/inflammatory | MS, GBS, AQP4-Ab, MOG-Ab, GFAP-Ab, sarcoid, stiff-person syndrome, SLE, Behcet’s, Sjogren’s, MCTD |
| Vascular | Anterior spinal artery occlusion, dural arteriovenous fistula, CNS vasculitis |
| Nutritional | B12/folate/copper (zinc intoxication), vitamin E deficiency |
| Viral/post-viral | DNA viruses eg CMV, varicella-zoster, HSV-2, EBV |
| RNA viruses eg HIV, HTLV-1/2, polio, influenza, measles, mumps, dengue, West Nile, enterovirus-D68, 70/71, hepatitis A/C | |
| Other infections | Mycoplasma, Borrelia burgdorferi, Treponema pallidum, aspergillus, neurocysticercosis, schistosoma, angiostrongylosis |
| Genetic/inborn metabolic errors | eg Leukodystrophies, peroxisomal disorders, biotinidase deficiency, hereditary spastic paraplegias, dopa-responsive dystonia, Friedreich’s ataxia, Hexosaminidase deficiency |
| Paraneoplastic syndromes | Amphiphysin-, Ri-, CV2/CRMP5-, Ma1/2-, Hu-antibodies |
| Toxic | Post-radiation |
| Nitrous oxide | |
| Heroin | |
| Electrical injury | |
| Decompression sickness | |
| Anterior horn cell disease | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
| Primary lateral sclerosis | |
| Poliomyelitis |
Ab = antibody; AQP4 = aquaporin-4; CMV = cytomegalovirus; CNS = central nervous system; CV2/CRMP5 = collapsin response mediator protein 5; DNA = deoxyribonucleic acid; EBV = Epstein-Barr virus; GBS = Guillain–Barre syndrome; GFAP = glial fibrillary acid protein; HSV = herpes simplex virus; HTLV = human T-lymphocytic virus; MCTD = mixed connective tissue disease; MOG = myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein; MS = multiple sclerosis; SLE = systemic lupus erythematosus; RNA = ribonucleic acid.