Clinical analysis of two cases of spastic paraplegia caused by Wallerian degeneration in lateral corticospinal tracts after pontine infarction / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical manifestations and imaging features of spastic paraplegia caused by spinal cord Wallerian degeneration after pontine infarction, and to analyze its occurrence process and mechanism.Methods:The clinical manifestations and imaging features of two patients with spastic paraplegia caused by spinal cord Wallerian degeneration after pontine infarction were reported for the first time in China. Combined with anatomy and review of the literature, the mechanism, imaging manifestations and clinical features of Wallerian degeneration of lateral funiculus of spinal cord after pontine infarction were analyzed systematically.Results:Case 1 was a 65 years old female, and case 2 was a 58 years old male, who were treated in Qilu Hospital of Shandong University on December 7, 2018 and June 23, 2019 respectively. All the two patients presented with strength weakness of both limbs, hypertonia, symmetric hyperreflexia, and bilateral extensor plantar responses, which suggested spastic paraplegia secondary to upper motor neuron involvement. Spastic paraplegia appeared eight months after pontine infarction in case 1 and appeared six months after pontine infarction in case 2. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed continuous iso-T 1 and high-T 2 signals of bilateral pyramidal tracts below the pontine foci. Case 1 showed lesions of lateral cord of medulla oblongata, cervical spinal cord and thoracic spinal cord, and case 2 showed lesions of lateral cord of medulla oblongata and cervical spinal cord. At the same time, motor neuron disease and metabolic disease were excluded by electromyography and laboratory examination, inflammatory demyelinating disease was excluded by cerebrospinal fluid examination in one case. The syndromes, in combination with a continuous strip of abnormal signal revealed by magnetic resonance imaging which was consistent with the pyramidal tract and connected with the primary lesion suggested wallerian degeneration of spinal cord secondary to pontine infarction. The clinical symptoms of two cases were gradually aggravated in follow-up. Conclusions:Spinal cord Wallerian degeneration is a sequel after pontine infarction, which is related to the prognosis of the disease. A full understanding of its clinical manifestations and imaging features can avoid clinical misdiagnosis as other diseases.