Syringomyelia Presenting as Lower Cervical Radiculopathy: A case report

Syringomyelia may present with confusing, unilateral patterns of segmental muscle involvement and dissociated sensory loss. The objective of this study was to report a patient with syringomyelia and Chiari malformation type 1 (CM 1) who had an unusual presentation suggesting lower cervical radiculopathy. A 50-year-old woman presented with clinical evidence of left lower cervical radiculopathy. Nerve conduction studies revealed normal in both motor and sensory nerves of the left upper extremity. Electromyography showed abnormal spontaneous activities in the paracervical muscles at C7-T1 levels and in some examined muscles of the left upper extremity such as abductor pollicis brevis and abductor digiti minimi muscles. Magnetic resonance imaging of cervical spine demonstrated syringomyelia at C4- T4 levels. Syringomyelia may clinically mimic lower cervical radiculopathy.

The Changes of Markers of Bone Metabolism and Bone Mineral Densities in Patients with Spinal Cord Injury

OBJECTIVE: In patients with spinal cord injury, it is more susceptible to osteoporosis because bone resorption is more prominent than bone formation. Thus we evaluated the change of biochemical markers and bone mineral densities (BMDs) according to the duration of injury, the spinal cord injury level, and the injury severity. METHOD: The subjects were included 26 patients with spinal cord injury and 22 healthy men. We measured serum osteocalcin and urine deoxypyridinoline (DPYD) in 2 hours after awakening and measured BMDs in lumbar vertebrae, femur, and distal forearm in patients and control group. The patients were 21 men, 5 women, mean age 43.2+/-14.3 years, and mean duration 28.3+/-45.0 months, who were divided by injury level and injury severity respectively. RESULTS: The biochemical markers of bone metabolism in patients group had significant differences comparing to control group (p<0.05). The urine DPYD and BMDs in femur showed significantly negative correlation with the duration of spinal cord injury (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: In patients with spinal cord injury, urine DPYD and BMDs in femur had significant correlation with the duration of injury. But, the injury level and injury severity had no significant correlation with the markers of bone metabolism and BMDs.