title: Cocaine-induced vasospasm causing spinal cord transient ischemia.
abstract: A 25-year-old woman developed a spinal cord infarction leading to quadriplegia and respiratory insufficiency after consuming cocaine and vodka for several days. Within five months, she regained full motor and respiratory function. A literature review revealed 11 cases of cocaine-induced spinal cord infarction. A complete recovery from quadriplegia and respiratory failure following cocaine abuse has never been reported to date. The value of diffusion-weighted imaging in cocaine-induced spinal cord infarction is here presented and discussed. The literature proposes several mechanisms for cocaine-induced infarction including vasospasm, arteritis, and thrombosis. In this case, the imaging studies and the full recovery suggest that the spinal cord ischemia was secondary to a transient vasospasm of the anterior spinal artery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University; Montreal, QC, Canada - donatella.tampieri@mcgill.ca.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gorelik
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tampieri