Isolated spinal cord arteritis.

This patient presented as a subacute progressive cervical myelopathy and the differential diagnosis included cervical spondylotic myelopathy and intramedullary mass. Microscopically, vascular lesions plus a patchy myelomalacia indicated a vasculitis. However, there was no suggestion of a generalized vasculitis at autopsy and the only supporting laboratory study was a raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate. It would seem that a vasculitis similar to polyarteritis nodosa or other collagen disease may be confined to the spinal cord.