Spinal Cord Compression

Question 1

What sensations are carried within the:

1. Spinothalamic tract
2. Dorsal colums

Answer 1

1. Pain, temperature and crude touch

2. Fine touch, propriocepton and vibration

Question 2

What happens initially following a cord transection?

Answer 2

A flaccid areflexic (absent reflexes) paralysis

- UMN signs appear later due to “Spinal Shock”

Question 3

What symptoms arise in a Brown-Sequard syndrome? (Cord Hemisection)

Answer 3

• Ipsilateral motor paralysis
• Ipsilateral loss of fine touch, proprioception and vibration (dorsal columns)
• Contralateral loss of pain, temperature and crude touch sensation (spinothalamic)

Question 4

What symptoms arise in a central cord syndrome?

Answer 4

• Hyperflexion or extension injury
• Distal upper limb weakness
• ‘Cape-like’ spinothalamic sensory loss

Question 5

What is different about chronic spinal cord compression compared to acute?

Answer 5

UMN signs predominate