title: Transient long segment spinal cord hyperintensity after anterior cervical discectomy.
abstract: A 69-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with progressive numbness in both feet and gait disturbance. MR imaging revealed a large cervical disc herniation resulting in significant spinal cord compression with hyperintensity of the spinal cord on T2-weighted images at C-5/6. Immediately after undergoing anterior cervical discectomy, the patient developed severe weakness of his left hand and lower extremities. MR imaging obtained 5 days after surgery revealed a long segment hyperintensity between C-3 and T-2 on T2-weighted images. This long segment hyperintensity disappeared after 2 weeks of steroid administration. We suspect that the persistent, localised, patchy C-5/6 cord hyperintensity represents spinal cord degeneration due to ischaemia and trauma resulting from the disc herniation. However, the transient long segment hyperintensity may represent oedema, probably due to minor trauma of an already compromised cord, during the decompression surgery. Clinicians should be aware that even careful surgery can result in a significant change in radiological studies and neurological condition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyoshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akutsu
authors.forename: Kiyoyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yanaka
authors.forename: Noriaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakamoto
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Tadao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nose
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000601:surgery*; D017586:Diskectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007405:Intervertebral Disc Displacement / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology