What is syringomyelia
what is syringomyelia? Syringomyelia is a chronic and progressive lesion of the spinal cord. The etiology is not very clear. The lesion is characterized by the formation of tubular cavities in the spinal cord (mainly gray matter) and glial (non neural cell) proliferation. It often occurs in the cervical spinal cord. When the lesion involves the medulla oblongata, it is called medullary cavity.
what is the cause of syringomyelia
when the human body once has a certain disease, it must want to know why it is suffering from this disease? What is the cause of syringomyelia? The exact etiology of syringomyelia is not clear. It can be divided into congenital dysplasia and secondary syringomyelia, which is rare.
1. Congenital spinal canal atresia. This disease is often accompanied by spina bifida, cervical rib, scoliosis, ring occipital deformity and other congenital abnormalities, which supports this view.
2. Mechanical factors. Due to congenital factors, the outlet of the fourth ventricle is blocked, the flow of cerebrospinal fluid from the fourth ventricle to the subarachnoid cavity is blocked, and the pulsatile wave of cerebrospinal fluid strikes the central canal of the spinal cord downward, resulting in the expansion of the central canal and breaking through the wall of the central canal to form a cavity.
3. Abnormal blood circulation of spinal cord causes spinal cord ischemia, necrosis, softening and cavity formation.
4, others. Such as cystic degeneration of spinal cord tumor, traumatic spinal cord with radioactive spinal cord infarction, softening of spinal cord, intracerebral hemorrhage, necrotizing myelitis, etc.
what are the symptoms of syringomyelia
1. Motor symptoms
cervical and thoracic cavity affects the anterior horn of the spinal cord, and there are symptoms of relaxation partial paralysis of one or both upper limbs, manifested as muscle weakness and decreased muscle tension, especially the thenar muscle and interosseous muscle atrophy of both hands, and claw shaped hand deformity in severe cases, When the descending root of trigeminal nerve is affected, the ipsilateral facial sensation is often central pain, temperature disturbance, and facial dissociative sensory loss, forming the so-called & ldquo; Onion like distribution & rdquo;, With weak masticatory muscle strength, if vestibulo cerebellar conduction bundle is involved, vertigo, nausea, vomiting, unstable gait and nystagmus may occur, while upper motor element partial paralysis, hypertonia, disappearance of abdominal wall reflex and positive Babinski sign may occur in one or both lower limbs. Paralysis is more aggravated in late cases.
2. Sensory symptoms
according to the fact that the cavity is located in the cervical and upper thoracic segments of the spinal cord, biased to one side or in the center, there is a segmental sensory disorder of one side of the upper limb and the upper thoracic segment, which is often characterized by segmental dissociative sensory disorder. Pain and temperature decreased or disappeared, and deep sensation exists. This symptom can also be bilateral.
3. Symptoms of autonomic nerve damage
. The cavity involves the sympathetic spinal cord center in the lateral corner of the spinal cord (cervical 8 cervical spinal cord and thoracic 1 thoracic spinal cord). Horner syndrome occurs. The lesion damages the corresponding segments. There may be abnormal secretion in the limbs and trunk skin. Hyperhidrosis or Hypohidrosis is the only sign of abnormal secretion. Hypohidrosis can be limited to one side of the body, which is called & ldquo; Hemianhidrosis & rdquo;, It is more common in one side of the upper body, or one side of the upper limb or half of the face. Usually, the corneal reflex can also be weakened or disappeared. Because of neurotrophic keratitis, bilateral corneal perforation can be caused. Another strange sweating phenomenon is increased sweating after cold, accompanied by decreased temperature, excessive keratosis, atrophy and loss of luster of fingers and nails. It disappears due to pain and temperature, It is prone to scald and trauma, and late patients have dysuria and recurrent urinary tract infection.