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Case Reports
. 2017 Aug 15;56(16):2213-2215.
doi: 10.2169/internalmedicine.8322-16. Epub 2017 Aug 1.

Cervical Flexion Myelopathy Eleven Years after a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Hiroto Nakano  1 , Kenji Sakai  1 , Kazuo Iwasa  1 , Masahito Yamada  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Cervical Flexion Myelopathy Eleven Years after a Cervical Spinal Cord Injury

Hiroto Nakano et al. Intern Med. .

Abstract

We herein describe a 37-year-old man who developed cervical flexion myelopathy 11 years after suffering a cervical spinal cord injury. Cervical magnetic resonance imaging 11 years after the accident demonstrated atrophy and hyperintense lesions at the C6 and C7 levels in the cervical cord with an abnormal alignment of the vertebrae. In the neck flexion position, an anterior shift of the cervical cord was evident. Our patient's condition suggests that an abnormal alignment of the cervical spine and spinal cord injury due to a traumatic accident could be risk factors in the subsequent development of cervical flexion myelopathy.

Keywords: Hirayama disease; MRI; cervical flexion myelopathy; cervical spinal cord injury.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Cervical magnetic resonance imaging on a T2-weighted sagittal image. (A) At the time of the cervical traumatic accident, hyperintense lesions in the right side of the cervical cord at the C6 and C7 vertebral levels are evident. (B) Eleven years after the accident, atrophy of the cervical spinal cord with hyperintensity is demonstrated. (C) In the neck flexion position, an anterior shift of the cervical spinal cord is shown.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Computed tomographic myelography thirteen years after the accident. (A, B) An abnormal alignment of the cervical spine and an atrophied spinal cord are demonstrated in the neutral position. Neck flexion causes anterior migration (C) and flattening (D) of the cervical spinal cord at the levels of C6 and C7 vertebral body. Sagittal images (A, C); axial images (B, D).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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