Isolated muscle atrophy of the distal upper extremity in cervical spinal cord compressive disorders

The purpose of this article is to clarify one mechanism of muscular atrophy of the distal upper extremity that we attribute to cervical compression (Hirayama-type amyotrophy) by medical imaging and anatomical studies of the cervical spine. Five young male patients (mean age: 22.6 years) with this disorder showed characteristic findings to include an abnormal anterior displacement of the posterior dura wall in flexion that resulted in an anteroposterior compression of the spinal cord segment from C7 to C8. To identify an anatomical relationship to this disorder, the lower cervical spine was studied using 11 embalmed adult human cadavers. Abundant posterior epidural ligaments were observed between the posterior dura mater and the ligamentum flavum. Posterior epidural ligaments in the cervical spine have not been reported previously. The anterior displacement of the dura mater may be attributed to a lack of and/or insufficiency of the posterior epidural ligaments.