An Atypical Clinical Presentation of Post-traumatic Syringomyelia: A Case Report and Brief Review of the Literature

Syringomyelia classically presents as a bilateral sensory loss of the dissociated type which includes the loss of pain and temperature with the preservation of fine touch, vibratory sensation, and proprioception in the shoulder, arm, and hand. Eventually, weakness of the legs, muscle wasting, and ataxia can also be seen due to the involvement of the corticospinal tracts and the posterior columns of the spinal cord. We present the case of a 64-year-old patient with an atypical presentation of post-traumatic syringomyelia. This atypical presentation included a unilateral sensory loss of fine touch, pain, and temperature in the shoulder, arm, and hand which was of the non-dissociated type with no weakness, muscular atrophy, loss of vibratory sensation, or proprioception.

• Publication year

  2017

• Venue

  Cureus

• Publication date

  2017-11-01

• Fields of study

  Medicine

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.7759/cureus.1852PMID 29372126PMCID 5769987
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Surgical Management of Syringomyelia Associated with Spinal Adhesive Arachnoiditis, a Late Complication of Tuberculous Meningitis: A Case Report

  2017cited by this paper
• The characteristics of posttraumatic syringomyelia

  2015cited by this paper
• Treatment of posttraumatic syringomyelia.

  2012cited by this paper
• Posttraumatic syringomyelia.

  2011cited by this paper
• Surgical Management of Post-Traumatic Syringomyelia

  2010cited by this paper
• Post-traumatic syringomyelia

  2007cited by this paper
• Incidence, management, and outcome of post-traumatic syringomyelia. In memory of Mr Bernard Williams.

  1996cited by this paper
• Post-traumatic syringomyelia.

  1994cited by this paper
• Sensory loss in syringomyelia: not necessarily dissociated.

  1993influential reference
• Posttraumatic Syringomyelia: The British Columbia Experience

  1986cited by this paper
• Posttraumatic syringomyelia.

  1985cited by this paper

• A dilemma of syringopleural shunting in an accidentally found asymptomatic lung fibrosis

  2025cites this paper
• Syringomyelia due to cervical spondylosis with an atypical sensory deficit – A rare and unusual presentation

  2024cites this paper
• Physiotherapeutic Intervention in a 19-Year-Old Female Patient With Syringohydromyelia: A Case Report

  2023cites this paper
• Syringomyelia and syringobulbia after brain injury: A case report and literature review.

  2022cites this paper
• Joint Position Sense Evaluation in Spinal Cord Injury

  2020cites this paper