Posttraumatic spinal cord herniation

David Francis1, Peter Batchelor, Peter Gates

  • 1Neuroscience Department, Barwon Health, P.O. Box 281, Geelong Victoria 3220, Australia.

We report a 28-year-old woman who presented with a partial Brown-Sequard syndrome 18 months after a fall from a horse. Investigation revealed the cause of her symptoms to be a spinal cord herniation at the level of T6. A review of previously reported cases of posttraumatic spinal cord herniation was undertaken. Six of the cases reported have clear evidence of injury at the site of subsequent herniation; the remaining five cases may be related to trauma or may be spontaneous spinal cord herniation, with an unrelated history of trauma.

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