Successful Treatment of Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Associated Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy-Resistant Vacuolar Myelopathy with Intravenous Immunoglobulin.

For the first time, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated vacuolar myelopathy (VM) was detailed in an autopsy-based study of 89 cases in 1985. This condition is the most common cause for spinal cord lesions in HIV patients. VM's pathogenic mechanism remains unclear; however, it is assumed that the disease can be related to both, the direct neurotoxic impact of the HIV and HIV-induced activation of immunopathological processes in the central nervous system (CNS).