[The interesting case report: spinal infarct with the picture of lumbar ischialgia]

The case we present here is that of a fifty-year-old male patient who first came to the Orthopedic Hospital for out-patient treatment suffering from symptoms of lumboischialgia. Shortly afterwards, he developed symptoms characteristic of paraplegia. It was only 21 days after the initial symptoms had manifest themselves that the tentative previous diagnosis, suspected "spinal infarct", could be confirmed by magnetic resonance tomography (MRT). Possibilities offered by differential diagnosis are discussed; the discussion is followed by an enumeration of this highly heterogeneous group of illnesses.