Interference with the vascular supply to the spinal cord can result in ischemia injury, which manifests as motor or sensory loss. This is a particular problem for patients have vascular surgery on the distal aorta or iliac arteries.
Blood supply to the spinal cord, nerve roots and plexus:
(1) anterior spinal artery
(2) posterior spinal artery
(3) radiculospinal artery
(4) radicular artery
Classification |
Infarction Site |
Vascular Association |
I |
complete infarction of the distal thoracolumbar cord |
|
II |
anterior two thirds of the spinal cord |
anterior spinal artery syndrome |
III |
lumbosacral roots with or without patchy infarcts of cord |
|
IV |
lumbosacral plexus |
|
V |
segmental infarction of the spinal cord (one or 2 levels) |
|
VI |
posterior third of the cord |
posterior spinal artery syndrome |
Classif-ication |
Motor |
Sensory |
Bowel and Bladder Function |
I |
bilateral flaccid paraplegia |
bilateral sensory loss |
bowel and bladder incontinence |
II |
bilateral flaccid paraplegia |
loss of pain and temperature sensation; proprioception and vibratory sensation maintained |
|
III |
bilateral asymptomatic paraparesis |
|
with or without bowel and bladder incontinence |
IV |
bilateral asymptomatic paraparesis; preservation paraspinal muscle innervation |
|
with or without bowel and bladder incontinence |
V |
bilateral spastic paraplegia |
bilateral sensory loss |
|
VI |
|
loss of proprioception and vibratory sensation |
|
where:
• Paraparesis is partial paralysis.
• Paraplegia is paralysis of the legs and lower part of the body.
• Preservation of paraspinal muscle innervation is detected using EMG.
Specialty: Neurology
ICD-10: ,