Neuroanatomy L4: Acquired spinal cord injury Flashcards
What are 3 conditions that affect spinal cord function?
- Neurotrauma
- Spinal tumours/abscesses
- Diseases
What is neurotrauma?
spinal cord / cauda equina (Traumatic spinal cord injury.
What are spinal tumours? What is the effect of a spinal tumour on the spinal cord?
A tumor inside or next to the spinal cord will narrow or compromise the space of the vertebral canal and begin to exert compression on the spinal cord.`
What is spinal abscess?
on outside of spinal cord
What can spinal tumours and abscesses cause?
Sensory and motor deficits
What is this? What will it cause?

Interspinal tumor - will affect local cells and descending/ascending pathways.
What are 4 diseases that affect spinal cord function?
- Poliomyelitis
- Syphilis
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Multiple sclerosis
What is poliomyelitis?
Viral infection (rare in the developed world due to vaccination) - infects and kills motor neurons, causing flaccid paralysis - not always uniform or symmetrical - generally unilateral.
How does poliomyelitis affect the spinal cord?
motor neuron loss In anterior horn => flaccid paralysis

What is syphilis?
Sexually trasnmitted disease - treatable and preventable -
How does syphilis affect the spinal cord?
- affects the sensory neurons of the dorsal root ganglia, and the sensory neurons in the dorsal columns degenerate (thus lose sensory input)
- can spread to the brain and cause insanity.
- no dorsal column- what do we use it for then? = sensory input (proprioception, fine discriminative touch (since this no longer there = use visual)
What is the cause of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)?
no known cause

How does Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) affect the spinal cord?
lower motor neurons degenerated lower (spinal cord and peripheral nerves) and upper motor neurons (brain)

What is multiple sclerosis?
Autoimmune system becomes activated to proteins in the spinal cord, particularly those associated with myelin around axons - in the image the dark staining is myelin, and there are large areas where the myelin has been removed. If the nerves even survive the inflammation, removing the myelin causes major functional deficits.

How does multiple sclerosis affect the spinal cord? Be specific with which motor neurons are affected.
Autoimmune demyelinating disorder components of white matter (gets attacked) white matter is used for conduction Degeneration of upper (corticospinal) and lower (spinal) motor neurons => paralysis and muscle atrophy
Is ALS very debilitating?
Generally these people die within years of being diagnosed - due to breathing difficulties.
What is a traumatic spinal injury (tSCI)?
starts off with a mechanical force (eg. break back) –> reposition vertebrae –> compromised vertebral canal space
What are 5 examples of trauma that can cause spinal cord injuries?
- Work site/place injuries
- Driving into shallow water
- Sporting injuries
- Motor bike accidents
- Waves –> dumped on sand
Estimated 339,000 Australians living with acquired brain injury. and estimated 10,000 Australians living with spinal cord injury (SCI). This is estimated to cost Australia _______ dollars each year?
10 billion
Spinal cord injuries most affect ____ (males/female) in their _____ to _____ years.
Mostly affects males - the bracket of injury is late teens to 30/40 years.
What are 2 important things that can ensure people with spinal cord injuries can still have normal life expectancy although they are paralysed?
Medical care for early management and rehabilitation

Which horn does sensory information flow in?
Dorsal side

What does the grey matter (inside) consist of?
contains cell bodies of nerve cells that reside in spinal cord

What does the white matter (outside) consist of?
contains nerve fibres (pathways) running to and from the brain













































