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Syrinx Extending from Conus Medullaris to Basal Ganglia: A Clinical, Radiological, and Pathological Correlation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

R. Del Bigio Marc ,
H.N. Deck John  and
J. Kerry MacDonald
R. Del Bigio Marc*
Affiliation:
Division of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
H.N. Deck John*
Affiliation:
Division of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
J. Kerry MacDonald*
Affiliation:
Division of Neuropathology, Department of Pathology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario
*
Department of Pathology, The Toronto Hospital, 399 Bathurst Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
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Abstract:

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A 41-year-old woman with a history of birth injury to the brachial plexus suffered several delayed episodes of neurological deterioration. Magnetic resonance imaging studies revealed a syrinx extending from the conus medullaris into the brainstem and rostrally into both internal capsules. She died of an acute exacerbation of chronic respiratory failure. Autopsy demonstrated syringomyelia and syringobulbia with cavity extension bilaterally along the corticospinal tracts into the internal capsules. Islands of glial tissue in the subarachnoid space around the medulla caused obstruction of the subarachnoid space at the foramen magnum. These were probably the result of birth injury to the cerebellum. A detailed clinico-pathological correlation is provided to explain her neurological deficits. The pathogenesis of syrinx formation is discussed in terms of a late manifestation of birth trauma.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 1993 , pp. 240 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1993

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