[Dyscirculatory encephalomyelopathy and the role of spinal osteochondrosis in its etiology]

Clinical observations of 36 patients with chronic combined insufficiency of the cerebral and spinal circulation are presented. For denoting this clinical form the name "dyscirculatory encephalomyelopathy" is suggested. In the disease picture two leading syndromes, i.e. the cerebral and the spinal ones, are noted. Depending on the clinical manifestations at the disease onset three groups of patients are distinguished: in the first group the disease started from the general cerebral, in the second group from the spinal, and in the third group from both syndromes. As the disease progressed, these differences got levelled, and both syndromes became manifest. The principal cause of the dyscirculatory encephalomyelopathy consisted in general systemic vascular diseases, primarily, atherosclerosis. Vertebral osteochondritis is regarded as an additional etiological factor aggravating the dyscirculatory disturbances. A theoretical substantiation of the differentiation of the dyscirculatory encephalomyelopathy as a specific disease entity is suggested.