Noninfectious inflammatory spinal cord lesions include multiple sclerosis (MS), acute transverse myelitis (ATM), neuromyelitis optica (NMO), neurosarcoidosis, and Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). Except for MS, these entities are rare. The disease etiologies are incompletely understood but seem to involve immune system…
Noninfective inflammations of the vertebral spine can be caused by seronegative spondyloarthropathies or by seropositive rheumatoid arthritis. The seronegative spondyloarthropathies include ankylosing spondylitis, psoriatic arthritis, reactive arthritis, arthritis associated with inflammatory bowel diseases, and undifferentiated arthritis. ANYLOSING SPONDYLITIS Epidemiology Ankylosing…
SPINAL MENINGITIS Spinal meningitis is infection of the spinal cord, leptomeninges, and subarachnoid space by various pathogens. It is also called infectious arachnoiditis. Epidemiology The incidence of bacterial meningitis is 2 to 3 per 100,000. It occurs most commonly in…
Spinal infection frequently injures the vertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, paraspinal soft tissues, epidural space, meninges, and spinal cord. Clinically, it is notoriously difficult to differentiate spinal infection from degenerative processes, noninfective inflammatory disorders, and spinal neoplasms. Spinal infections are a…
Metabolic disorders of the spinal cord are less common than metabolic disorders of the brain and peripheral nerves. Such metabolic myelopathies can be secondary to nutritional deficiencies, especially vitamin B 12 deficiency, or to systemic metabolic disorders. VITAMIN B 12…
The skeletal manifestations of metabolic disease are a heterogeneous group of conditions resulting from endocrinopathy, vitamin deficiency, renal tubular dysfunction, and disorders of endogenous metabolism. As a group, they are characterized by altered function of the osteoblasts and osteoclasts or…
Spinal tumors comprise a large spectrum of distinct histologic entities that may arise primarily from the spinal cord (intra-axial or intramedullary space), the surrounding leptomeninges (intradural extramedullary space), or the extradural soft tissues and bony structures (extradural space). All three…
Cystic lesions of the spine are a diverse group of infectious, post-traumatic, postinterventional, and degenerative abnormalities with the common feature of a fluid collection with a wall. The cellular linings of the walls may be squamous epithelium, columnar epithelium, arachnoid…
Spinal vascular malformations are developmental derangements of the interconnections between arteries and veins, with secondary features of vascular enlargement, aneurysm and varix formation, mass effect from the enlarged vessels, excessively high flow with vascular steal and potential cardiac failure, and/or…
Spinal cord trauma is the application of excess force to the spinal cord and the consequences of that force for the cord. Traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) may result from an acute blow to the spine, resulting in fracture or…