title: A 20-year-old female with Hirayama disease complicated with dysplasia of the cervical vertebrae and degeneration of intervertebral discs.
abstract: A 20-year-old female patient was presented with a 1-year history of progressive weakness of the left hand. Examination on admission showed atrophy of the muscles of the left forearm, cold paralysis and minipolymyoclonus. MR images of the cervical cord showed anterior transfer of the cervical cord on anterior flexion and cervical cord compression at the site of cervical kyphosis, confirming the diagnosis of Hirayama disease. Many features of the present case are unusual: the patient is a female (who are rarely afflicted by this disease), with cervical kyphosis and a history of exercise involving cervical vertebral loading, suggesting a potential involvement of the latter two factors in the disease onset. The findings suggest that cervical vertebral dysplasia and intervertebral disc degeneration may influence cervical kyphosis, and be involved in the onset of Hirayama disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Katsushika Medical Center, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. msy-hsmt128@jikei.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sakimoto
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suzuki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001132:Arm; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology*; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000473:pathology*; D055959:Intervertebral Disc Degeneration / Q000150:complications*; D007738:Kyphosis / Q000150:complications*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal; D009133:Muscular Atrophy; D009207:Myoclonus; D009333:Neck / Q000473:pathology; D010243:Paralysis; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000209:etiology*; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D014897:Spinal Muscular Atrophies of Childhood / Q000150:complications*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D055815:Young Adult