title: Cough induced by ossification of the ligamentum flavum in the high cervical spine. Case report.
abstract: The authors report a very rare case of high cervical ossification of the ligamentum flavum (OLF) in a 40-year-old woman who developed an intractable cough after a traffic accident. The patient's symptoms subsided immediately after decompressive laminectomy and removal of the lesion. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of high cervical OLF in a patient who presented with a cough. The pathophysiological mechanism underlying the cough was determined to be symptomatic of high cervical spine OLF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery (Division of Neurosurgery), Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yu-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: Chau-Chin
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Pao-Sheng
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.forename: Jui-Feng
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Chain-Fa
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Su
authors.forename: Shinn-Zong
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Wu-Fu
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D003371:Cough / Q000209:etiology*; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy; D017843:Ligamentum Flavum / Q000473:pathology*; D009999:Ossification, Heterotopic / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery