title: Conus medullaris stroke. Does F wave predict return of ambulation?
abstract: Absent F wave in the stage of spinal shock has been described in cases of traumatic spinal cord injury. The role of F wave in predicting prognosis after conus medullaris infarct has not been described. We describe herein a middle aged-man with a conus medullaris infarct. Both tibial and peroneal F waves were absent on day 4. The left tibial F wave reappeared in the following study on day 18. All F waves reappeared on day 56 at which time the patient was still wheelchair bound. He regained walking on day 105. We hypothesize that reappearance of initially absent F waves post conus medullaris infarct is a good prognostic sign for the return of ambulation. The applicability of this observation requires further research. We also discuss clinical and diagnostic caveats in this case.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurology, Department of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Tel.+966 (11) 4699414. E-mail: dranazy@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohammed H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Alanazy
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007238:Infarction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009431:Neural Conduction; D010543:Peroneal Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011379:Prognosis; D020127:Recovery of Function; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D020760:Spinal Cord Ischemia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013979:Tibial Nerve / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016138:Walking