title: Anterior cysts of the spine: a difficult differential diagnosis to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
abstract: We describe three patients referred to our ALS/MND clinic with suspected diagnosis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The patients were all male, middle aged, and their initial symptoms were weakness and fasciculations in upper limb muscles. Results of clinical and electrophysiological examination in all cases were in accordance with possible ALS according to the revised El Escorial criteria. Other conditions mimicking ALS appeared to be excluded by extensive technical examinations and laboratory tests. Only repeated MRI examinations revealed anterior spinal cysts several years after symptom onset. This report intends to highlight this rare and difficult differential diagnosis of ALS and underlines the value of the revised El Escorial criteria in conjunction with electrophysiology to asses the certainty of the diagnosis ALS.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. Schmalbach.Sonja@mh-hannover.de
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schmalbach
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petri
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Götz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dengler
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krampfl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D001845:Bone Cysts / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004576:Electromyography; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009460:Neurologic Examination; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation