Post-traumatic syringomyelia

Clinical and neuroradiological data were recorded in a ser ies of 73 spinal cord injured patients (33 in Nantes, 40 in Paris-Bicetre) in whom a post t raumatic syringomyelia (PTS) developed These findings and a review of the l iterature allow to point out some of the main characteristics in such a pat hology. Clinical symptoms are frequent, the commonest of them are pain and sensory loss but any alteration of the neurological status after spinal cor d injury has to be considered. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), sagittal a nd axial T1 and T2 weighted images, confirms the diagnosis. of syrinx (area with the same signal intensity as CSF extending beyond the site of the ini tial lesion at least on 2 vertebral segments). MRI allows the diagnosis whe n it is performed in the follow rip of asymptomatic patients. So PTS is not infrequent in spinal cord injured patients for some of them in the first y ear after the trauma. The highest incidence is found in patients with compl ete thoracic lesions. Pathophysiology and surgical management have to take into account post traumatic residual stenosis of the vertebral canal.