[Non-ischemic borderline brachial paralysis]

Non ischemic anterior borderzone brachial paralysis. Anterior borderzone brachial paralysis (ABBP) is a hemodynamic ischemic syndrome of the watershed zone between the anterior and middle cerebral arteries. Two cases of non ischemic reversible ABBP are reported. The first suffered from multiple sclerosis; a CT-scan showed a lesion of the corona radiata, at the level of the anterior hemispheric borderzone. The second suffered from lung adenocarcinoma. A CT-scan showed multiple metastases, one being surrounded with oedema at the level of the anterior borderzone. According to its reversibility, the ABBP was reported to the inflammatory-oedematous reaction and not to a demyelinating or metastatic lesion itself. As ABBP may occur unilaterally, the name "one-armed man syndrome" should be used instead of "man-in-the-barrel syndrome" (which always implies a bilateral paralysis).