Ipsilateral Posterior Spinal Artery Infarction on Lower Medulla and Upper Cervical Spinal Cord: A case report.

, Kang, In Soon; , Kwon, Jeong Gu; , Lee, Sung Uk; , Park, Hea Woon

Case Report

Journal of the Korean Academy of Rehabilitation Medicine 2010;34(1):99-102.

Kang, In Soon , Kwon, Jeong Gu , Lee, Sung Uk , Park, Hea Woon

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, Korea. hwprm@cu.ac.kr

하부 연수와 상부 경척수에 함께 발생한 편측 후척수동맥의 경색-증례 보고-

강인순, 권정구, 이성욱, 박해운

대구가톨릭대학교 의과대학 재활의학교실

Abstract

Spinal cord infarction is uncommon and accounts for only 1% of all strokes in comparison with cerebral infarction. Furthermore, posterior spinal cord infarction is particularly rare because of an anastomotic network of direct penetrating vessels and plexus of pial vessels fed by the paired posterior spinal arteries. We report a case of unilateral posterior spinal artery infarction on lower medulla and upper cervical spinal cord in a patient of 60-year-old woman. She complained of continuous headache for several weeks and suddenly presented right facial paresthesia, slow progression of motor weakness and proprioceptive sensory loss on right extremity, and voiding difficulty. Magnetic resonance and computed tomography imaging studies confirmed acute infarction at the right posterolateral aspect of the lower medulla and upper cervical cord (C1-2 level) with right vertebral artery hypoplasia. Transcranial doppler sonography also showed right vertebral artery hypoplasia rather than stenosis with atherosclerosis. (J Korean Acad Rehab Med 2010; 34: 99-102)

Key Words: Spinal cord infarction, Posterior spinal artery, Medulla