title: [Sensory disturbance in the pulp of the fingertips in three patients with cervical myelitis].
abstract: We report three patients with cervical myelitis, with sensory disturbance at their fingertips. They exhibited the following clinical features in common: localized sensory disturbance in the pulp of the fingertips, with a positive Lhermitte's sign, but retained deep sensation. T2-weighted MR imaging demonstrated a swelling of the spinal cord at the C2 to C3 level, and a hyperintense lesion in the posterior region of the spinal cord at the same level in all patients. The characteristic symptoms of these three patients might be attributable to the somatotopy in the dorsal column at high cervical levels, because the afferent fibers innervating the fingertips occupy a much wider axial area at the high cervical spinal cord levels than the small surface area actually innervated by them.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, The Jikei University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Shusaku
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Omoto
authors.forename: Hironori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurita
authors.forename: Kiyoharu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000294:innervation*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009187:Myelitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D012678:Sensation Disorders / Q000209:etiology