RESEARCH ARTICLE
Arachnoiditis Ossificans – A Rare Cause of Progressive Myelopathy
Christopher J Steel 1, Erik L Abrames 1, William T O’Brien *, 1, 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2015Volume: 9
First Page: 13
Last Page: 20
Publisher ID: TONIJ-9-13
DOI: 10.2174/1874440001509010013
Article History:
Received Date: 2/2/2015Revision Received Date: 19/5/2015
Acceptance Date: 27/7/2015
Electronic publication date: 31/8/2015
Collection year: 2015

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Arachnoiditis ossificans is a rare cause of chronic, progressive myelopathy. In contrast to the more common benign causes of meningeal calcification, arachnoiditis ossificans results in replacement of portions of the spinal arachnoid by bone as an end-stage complication of adhesive arachnoiditis. It is usually the sequela of prior trauma or interventional procedures. Prognosis and treatment options depend upon the location and degree of spinal stenosis with thoracic involvement being more common and more severe than lumbar spine involvement. The imaging findings on magnetic resonance imaging may be confusing; however, the findings of intraspinal ossification on computed tomography are characteristics and diagnostic. We present a classic case of arachnoiditis ossificans in an elderly man who presented with progressive myelopathy and a recent fall, along with a review of the literature. The imaging in this case not only identified the characteristic findings of arachnoiditis ossificans but also identified secondary findings of the underlying causative etiology.