Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Posttraumatic syringomyelia: profound neuronal loss, yet preserved function

B Goldstein1, M C Hammond, S A Stiens

  • 1Spinal Cord Injury Service, DVA Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, WA 98108, USA.

Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
|January 24, 1998
PubMed
Summary

Posttraumatic syrinxes, fluid-filled cavities after spinal cord injury (SCI), can cause significant damage. Even with extensive neuronal loss, some patients may show minimal functional deficits.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Acute Postoperative Pain Due to Dental Extraction in the Adult Population: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.

Journal of dental research·2023
Same author

Umbilical Cord-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells for COVID-19 Patients with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS).

CellR4-- repair, replacement, regeneration, & reprogramming·2021
Same author

Implementing a declination form programme to improve influenza vaccine uptake by staff in Department of Veterans Affairs spinal cord injury centres: a pilot study.

The Journal of hospital infection·2015
Same author

Noise analysis and performance comparison of low current measurement systems for biomedical applications.

IEEE transactions on biomedical circuits and systems·2013
Same author

Lack of resveratrol neuroprotection in developing rats treated with kainic acid.

Neuroscience·2012
Same author

Applications of accelerator MS in pediatric drug evaluation.

Bioanalysis·2012

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Neuropathology
  • Spinal Cord Injury Research

Background:

  • Posttraumatic syrinxes are common after spinal cord injury (SCI) and can cause significant spinal cord dilation.
  • Neurologic deficits associated with syrinxes are often attributed to physical compression, but the extent of neuronal damage is not fully understood.

Observation:

  • A case study of a 49-year-old male with T4 paraplegia and a large posttraumatic syrinx is presented.
  • The patient underwent syringoperitoneal shunting and died 3 weeks post-operation.
  • Neuropathologic examination revealed extensive syrinx cavities and significant neuronal loss, including interneurons and motoneurons, from cervical to thoracic levels.

Findings:

  • Despite extensive neuronal loss in the spinal cord, the patient exhibited preserved motor function in wrist and elbow extensors.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Manual muscle testing and functional assessments, such as sliding board transfers, indicated minimal clinical deficits.
  • Histological analysis revealed substantial loss of gray matter neurons, particularly interneurons, in spinal segments corresponding to areas of preserved motor function.

    • Implications:

    • This case challenges the notion that syrinxes solely cause deficits through physical dissection of neural tissue.
    • The findings suggest that significant neuronal damage, especially to interneurons, can occur without corresponding severe clinical manifestations.
    • Further research is needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the dissociation between neuropathologic findings and clinical presentation in posttraumatic syrinxes.