Pathophysiological classification of human spinal cord ischemia

Diagnosis of myelopathies of vascular origin is difficult and they are probably underdiagnosed at this time because of the lack of diagnostic tools. A recent report of a 58 year old patient who developed ASAS after an episode of cardiac arrest pointed out the importance of MRI and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) to support the diagnosis. MRI with T2 weighted imaging demonstrated diffuse signal abnormalities in both gray matter and surrounding white matter below T7. Furthermore, SEP latencies showed a delay between T6 and T7. Therefore, new technologies including MRI and SEP may improve the diagnosis of spinal cord ischemic injuries. A brief discussion of the normal blood supply of the human spinal cord is presented in this review followed by new, pathophysiologically based classifications of the clinical syndromes of vascular myelopathies. A complete description of the clinical syndromes related to vascular myelopathies is included. Vascular myelopathies were divided into acute and chronic syndromes depending on the time at which the pathophysiological events take place. Subsequently, the two major groups of vascular myelopathies were divided depending on the type of vascular damage, e.g., arterial, venous and/or mixed origin. Posttraumatic spinal cord ischemia is included in the present classification because it is generally considered to be a significant factor contributing to secondary damage following blunt trauma. Since several new diagnostic techniques are now available to characterize the pathology of spinal cord injury, physicians involved in the diagnosis and treatment of vascular myelopathies may find the new classification useful in correlating clinical presentation with subjacent pathology. Identification of the correct pathology should result in more accurate treatment approaches.