Spinal Cord Atrophy and Early Motor Recovery following Transverse Myelitis in Pediatric Patients

OBJECTIVE: To compare the motor recovery following transverse myelitis in pediatric patients with and without spinal cord atrophy. METHOD: From January 1995 through December 2009, twenty children (8 boys and 12 girls with an onset at 5.7+/-3.8 years) that were diagnosed with transverse myelitis at a Children's Hospital in Korea, and undertaken an initial and follow-up spine magnetic resonance image (MRI) were included. Medical records and spine MRI scans were reviewed retrospectively. An initial MRI was taken 5.1+/-8.7 days after the onset. The interval between an initial and follow-up MRIs was 33.4+/-23.0 days. The motor recovery differences between subjects with and without spinal cord atrophy on follow-up MRIs were determined. Motor recovery was defined as the elevation of one or more grades of manual muscle tests of the Medical Research Council. RESULTS: Eight patients had developed spinal cord atrophies and 12 patients had not. Of the 8 patients with spinal cord atrophy, 7 showed no motor improvement. Among the 12 patients without atrophy, 11 had motor improvement. Spinal cord atrophy on follow-up MRIs were related to the risk of no motor improvement (odds ratio=77.0, 95% confidence interval [4.114-1441.049], p-value=0.001). CONCLUSION: Children with transverse myelitis who had developed spinal cord atrophy on follow-up MRIs had poor motor recovery than those who had not. The appearance of spinal cord atrophy on follow-up MRI could be an indicator of poor prognosis in pediatric transverse myelitis.

High Spinal Cord Injury Characterized by Flaccid Paralysis / 中国康复理论与实践

@#ObjectiveTo investigate the characteristics of patients with flaccid paralysis after high spinal cord injury. Methods1014 cases with traumatic spinal cord injury were investigated. The patients with flaccid paralysis after high spinal cord injury (spinal fractures above the level of T10) were analyzed. Results6 patients were ananlyzed, including 5 males and 1 female, mean of age was (42±12). The neurological injury involved C7 to T8, and the fractures involved T3 to T10. 3 cases had the neurological deterioration upward at least 3 spinal segments after operation compared with the fractures. One case accomplicated with severe pain in the chest had the subacute progressive ascending myelopathy up to C7 level. MRI showed extensive atrophy of thoracic spinal cord 6 months later in 5 cases. ConclusionThe incidence of flaccid paralysis after high spinal cord injury was rare. It presents the extensive thoracic spinal cord atrophy, and the causes and mechanisms are not clear.

CT myelography of the thoraco-lumbar spine in 8 dogs with degenerative myelopathy

CT myelography of the T11-L2 region was performed in 8 large-breed dogs with a clinical diagnosis of degenerative myelopathy (DM) and 3 large-breed dogs that were clinically normal. CT myelographic characteristics were recorded for each dog, at each disc level. Area measurements of the spinal cord, dural sac, vertebral canal, and vertebral body were recorded at 4 slice locations for each disc level. Mean area ratios were calculated and graphically compared, by slice location and group. In all dogs, CT myelography identified morphologic abnormalities that were not suspected from conventional myelograms. Characteristics observed with higher frequency in DM versus normal dogs were: spinal stenosis, disc protrusion, focal attenuation of the subarachnoid space, spinal cord deformity, small spinal cord, and paraspinal muscle atrophy. Mean spinal cord: dural sac, spinal cord: vertebral canal, dural sac: vertebral canal, and vertebral canal:vertebral body ratios were smaller in DM versus normal dogs at more than one disc level. Some CT myelographic characteristics in DM dogs were similar to those previously reported in humans, dogs and horses with stenotic myelopathy.