Spinal Cord Infarction: Clinical and Radiological Features.

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Radiology
• Vascular Medicine

Background:

• Spinal cord infarction is an uncommon neurological condition with variable clinical presentations.
• This study focuses on the clinical and radiological characteristics of spinal cord infarcts.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the clinical and radiological presentation of spinal cord infarcts.
• To identify key diagnostic features on MRI for spinal cord infarction.

Main Methods:

• Review of clinical and MRI data from 17 consecutive patients with spinal cord infarct.
• Inclusion criteria: acute/subacute onset (peak within 72 hours) and MRI findings consistent with spinal cord infarct.
• Exclusion criteria: alternative etiologies for clinical or MRI findings.

Main Results:

• Anterior spinal artery infarcts (n=16) presented with symptoms like dissociative anesthesia, limb weakness, and autonomic dysfunction.
• Posterior spinal artery infarct (n=1) showed ipsilateral upper limb weakness and sensory loss.
• MRI revealed characteristic signal changes, including "pencillike" hyperintensities on sagittal T2WI and "owl eye" appearance on axial T2WI for anterior infarcts.

Conclusions:

• Spinal cord infarction is a rare but significant cause of acute spinal cord syndromes.
• Characteristic imaging findings on MRI, particularly T2WI signal changes, are crucial for diagnosis.
• Timely diagnosis of spinal cord infarcts can be achieved with typical imaging patterns and clinical correlation.