Cervical spine arterio venous malformation.
We present an unusual case of a young patient who presented to our emergency department with a history of sudden onset of pain on the left side of the neck and numbness to the left arm after lifting a small weight. Patient continued to work as normal for approximately 30 min after the event and then attended the emergency department as numbness in the left arm was not resolving. On examination there was no sensorymotor deficit in the lower limbs but neurological deficits were found in the upper limbs which made us suspect a diagnosis of cervical spine injury/brachial plexus. The patient then rapidly developed numbness in both upper and lower limbs and eventually became aphasic and developed a rapid, shallow respiration and was unable to maintain the airway. The patient was then intubated and ventilated. The patient was then transferred to a neurosurgical centre after the relevant investigations was found to have an arteriovenous malformation of spinal cord.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Tameside Hospital, Ashton-Under-Lyne, UK. giridharparla@yahoo.com
Giridhar
G
Parla
Victor
V
Ameh
D000293:Adolescent; D001165:Arteriovenous Malformations / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002533:Cerebral Angiography; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed