C-Spine

Spinal Cord Hemisection

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Spinal Cord Hemisection, Brown-Sequard Syndrome, Hemicord Syndrome, Hemiparaplegic Syndrome

  • See Also
  1. Complete Cord Syndrome
  2. Central Cord Syndrome
  3. Anterior Cord Syndrome
  4. Posterior Cord Syndrome
  5. Spinal Cord Syndrome
  6. Cervical Spine Injury
  • Epidemiology
  1. Rare Spinal Injury
  • Pathophysiology
  1. Unilateral (hemi-cord) cord injury affecting the dorsal columns, Corticospinal tract and Spinothalamic Tract
  2. Spinothalamic Tract crosses to the contralateral side (giving the crossed effects)
  3. Images
    1. CordSyndrome.jpg
  • Causes
  1. Penetrating Trauma (most common)
  2. Blunt spinal cord injury
  3. Disc Herniation
  4. Epidural Hematoma
  5. Decompression Sickness complication
  • Signs
  1. Ipsilateral motor weakness
  2. Ipsilateral proprioception and vibratory sensation loss below the lesion
  3. Contralateral pain and Temperature sensation loss starting two levels below the lesion
  • Associated Conditions
  1. Horner Syndrome
  • Prognosis
  1. Poor prognosis for functional improvement
  • References
  1. Decker in Chorley and Bachur (2014) Overview of Cervical Spinal Cord Injuries..., UpToDate, Wolters-Kluwer
  2. Wagner (1997) Emerg Med Clin North Am 15:699-711 [PubMed]