title: Acute central cervical cord injury presenting with only upper extremity involvement.
abstract: Twenty-four patients with acute central cervical cord injury with motor and sensory impairment involving only the upper extremities are described; none had any abnormality in the lower extremities. They were all treated conservatively with one exception in whom an anterior decompression was performed. Seventeen had complete recovery of motor function; the remaining 7 had some weakness of the palmar interosseous muscles. The time to recovery was from 2 weeks to 4 months. Sensory recovery took from 4 to 6 months after injury. This type of injury is caused by damage to the anterior and posterior horn cells in the cervical cord.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jia
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls; D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018908:Muscle Weakness / Q000209:etiology*; D019838:Neck Injuries / Q000150:complications*; D010243:Paralysis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D011379:Prognosis; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy