Quadriparesis due to acute collapse of a seemingly stabilized C5/6 segment in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis--a...

Rheumatoid arthritis often involves the cervical spine, especially the atlantoaxial joint. Although any cervical lesion can induce myelopathy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, it is difficult to precisely predict if the lesion will progress and produce the myelopathy in a prospective fashion. The diagnostic imaging studies including plain radiographs, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging are not always of sufficient quality to identify and predict the instability in the cervical spine in an rheumatoid arthritis patient. This article presents a patient with rheumatoid arthritis who had an acute collapse of a seemingly stabilized C5-6 segment, followed by severe quadriparesis resulting in death.