Cardiovascular risk factors and brain white matter lesions in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis (HAM/TSP).

The origin of brain white matter lesion found in HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM/TSP) remains undefined. We investigated the association between white matter lesions in HAM/TSP with cardiovascular risk factors. The group of 40 patients with HAM/TSP included 60% females and mean age of 58.