Postmortem findings in a woman with history of laminoplasty for severe cervical spondylotic myelopathy
Open Access
- 1 September 2011
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in The Journal of Spinal Cord Medicine
- Vol. 34 (5), 523-526
- https://doi.org/10.1179/107902611X13069205199503
Abstract
Context We report the autopsy of a 65-year-old woman who underwent a C3–C7 laminoplasty 4 years after the diagnosis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM). Her sensory disturbance, spasticity, and vesicorectal disturbance, which corresponded to long tract sign, had improved after surgery. Findings Cross sections at the C4–C5 level showed a triangular shape because of atrophied ventral gray matter. Moreover, despite the scarce glial scar formation around the cystic cavity, regeneration of gray matter had not occurred. In the white matter, the posterior and lateral funiculi were shrunken including three to four segments. Conclusion Pathological change of white matter did not coincide with relief of clinical symptoms in this case. These findings indicate that it may be better to operate earlier in cases of CSM, because delay may lead to irreversible histological change.Keywords
This publication has 8 references indexed in Scilit:
- Pathophysiology of cervical myelopathyThe Spine Journal, 2006
- Clinicopathological study of “snake-eye appearance” in compressive myelopathy of the cervical spinal cordJournal of Neurosurgery: Spine, 2003
- Cervical Spondylotic MyelopathySpine, 1996
- [Neuroimaging and pathology of the spinal cord in compressive cervical myelopathy].1995
- Biomechanics of Nonacute Cervical Spinal Cord TraumaSpine, 1988
- Canal Diameter, Anteroposterior Compression Ratio, and Spondylotic Myelopathy of the Cervical SpineSpine, 1983
- The cervical myelopathy associated with rheumatoid arthritis: Analysis of 32 patients, with 2 postmortem casesAnnals of Neurology, 1978
- Cervical myelopathy due to spondylosisJournal of Neurosurgery, 1978