Diseases of the Spinal Cord

Question 1

Lesions at T9-T10 result in… ?

Answer 1

Paralysis of the lower-but not the upper abdominal muscles, resulting in upward movement of the umbilicus when the abdominal wall contracts (Beevor’s sign).

Question 2

The conus syndrome cosists of… ?

Answer 2

Bilateral saddle anesthesia (S3-S5), promiment bladder and bowel dysfunction and impotence.

Question 3

Cauda equina syndrome is characterized by ?

Answer 3

low back and radicular pain, asymmetric leg weakness and sensory loss, variable areflexia in the lower extremities, and relative sparing of bowel and bladder function.

Question 4

Lesions in the area of the foramen magnum result in…=

Answer 4

Bilateral leg weakness (crural paresis) due to interruption of decussating pyramidal tract fibers.

Question 5

Which part of the vertebral column is most commonly involved in neoplastic cord compression ?

Answer 5

The thoracic spinal column (prostate and ovarian cancer are exceptions, they occur dispropotionately in the sacral and lumbar vertrebrae)

Question 6

Most common intradural mass lesions ?

Answer 6

Meningiomas and neurofibromas (most intradural mass lesions are slow-growing and benign, unlike extradural ones)

Question 7

Some features of neurosarcoid ?

Answer 7

Cranial neuropathy, hypothalamic involvement, meningeal enhancement visualized by MRI.

Question 8

HSV-2 (less commonly HSV-1) may produce what ?

Answer 8

A syndrome of recurrent sacral cauda equina neuritis in association with outbreaks of genital herpes (Elsberg’s syndrome).

Question 9

More than half of syringomyelia cases are associated with ?

Answer 9

Chiari type 1 malformation (protrusion of the cerebellar tonsils through the foramen magnum and into the cevical spinal canal)

Question 10

An important diagnostic clue in patients with subacute combined degeneration (vitamin B12 deficiency) ?

Answer 10

Loss of reflexes due to peripheral neuropathy in a patient who also has Babinski signs.