Seung-Pyo Suh; Won Rak Choi; Chang-Nam Kang

doi:10.4184/jkss.2017.24.4.252

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Suh, Choi, and Kang: Brown-Séquard Syndrome and Cervical Vertebral Fractures after Blunt Cervical Trauma in a Traffic Accident - A Case Report -

Case Report

Journal of Korean Spine Surg 2017;24(4):252-256.

Published online: 31 December 2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4184/jkss.2017.24.4.252

Brown-Séquard Syndrome and Cervical Vertebral Fractures after Blunt Cervical Trauma in a Traffic Accident - A Case Report -

Seung-Pyo Suh, M.D.^∗, Won Rak Choi, M.D., Chang-Nam Kang, M.D. Ph.D.

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

^∗Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sung-Ae Hospital, Seoul, Korea

Corresponding author: Chang-Nam Kang, M.D., Ph.D. ORCID ID: Chang-Nam Kang: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4633-3391 Seung-Pyo Suh: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1457-8984 Won Rak Choi: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0854-7567 Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Hanyang University College of Medicine, 222 Wangsimni-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, 04753, South Korea TEL: +82-2-2290-8485, FAX: +82-2-2299-3774 E-mail: cnkang65@hanyang.ac.kr

Received 6 July 201712 July 2017 Accepted 14 November 2017

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Study Design

Case report

Objectives

To report a case of Brown-Séquard syndrome after blunt cervical trauma.

Summary of Literature Review

Brown-Séquard syndrome is a rare disease characterized by hemisection of the spinal cord, and it shows the best prognosis of the various types of incomplete spinal cord injuries.

Materials and Methods

A patient with Brown-Séquard syndrome that occurred after a traffic accident was followed up for 2 years and 6 months.

Results

We observed normal recovery of motor strength, but sensory impairment and deep tendon hyperreflexia remained.

Conclusions

Brown-Séquard syndrome is known to have a good prognosis, but in this case, the neurological abnormality did not fully recover; therefore, we report this rare case and present a review of the literature.

Keywords: Brown séquard syndrome, Cervical vertebrae, Fracture, Spinal cord injury

REFERENCES

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Fig. 1.

The patient's medical record with an assessment using the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale at the initial visit.

Fig. 2.

Simple radiographs of the cervical spine. The anteroposterior view (A) shows a fracture of the left superior articular process of C3 (arrow). The lateral view (B) shows fractures of the body of C4 (arrow) and the spinous process of C4 (arrowhead).

Fig. 3.

Computed tomography of the cervical spine. The axial view of C3 (A) shows fractures of the body (arrow), left superior articular process, and lamina (arrowhead). The axial view of C4 (B) shows fractures of both lamina (arrow). The midsagittal view (C) shows fractures of the body of C4 (arrow) and the spinous process of C4 (arrowhead). There was no spinal canal encroachment.

Fig. 4.

The axial (A) and midsagittal (B) view of T2-weighted magnetic resonance images. The arrow indicates high signal intensity in the left side of the spinal cord at the C3-C4 level.

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