Vitamin D and Transverse Myelitis

Maureen Mealy, RN, Program Director of the Johns Hopkins Transverse Myelitis Center, is investigating the role of vitamin D in the pathogenesis of spinal cord inflammatory disease, including idiopathic transverse myelitis (TM), recurrent TM, neuromyelitis optica (NMO), and NMO spectrum disorders.

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increased risk of development of multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as with increased relapse rate.  Recent studies show that vitamin D plays a role in modulating the immune reaction in MS, but the importance of vitamin D in monophasic or recurrent non-MS spinal cord disease is unknown.