title: Post-traumatic syringomyelia.
abstract: Post-traumatic syringomyelia was previously thought to be an infrequent but serious sequel to spinal cord injury. Clinical and CT studies have shown an incidence of between 1% and 5%, but more recently MRI has suggested an incidence of up to 22%. Twenty spinal cords have been examined after death from two days to 43 years after injury. Four had syrinxes, 20% of the series, approaching the incidence found by MRI. The acute and chronic pathological changes after trauma are described. Post-traumatic syringomyelia seems to develop from cores of necrotic tissue (myelomalacic cores) rather than lysis of haematoma. The mechanism of extension of syrinxes remains unexplained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropathology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Squier
authors.forename: R P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Lehr
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D013595:Syringomyelia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D013997:Time Factors