Paralysis of the Arm Occurring After Decompression of the Cervical Spinal Cord

Abstract

Paralysis of the arm has been known to occur occasionally after both posterior and anterior decompression of the cervical spinal cord without apparent mechanical trauma to the spinal cord or roots during the operation. It usually occurs as minor neurological symptoms of segmental deterioration in generally improved neurologies. Such paralysis can include both motor and sensory disturbances. The nature of the motor involvement is a lesion of the secondary motor neuron, i.e., involving the motor cell and/or anterior root, but not the long tracts of the spinal cord. This type of paralysis occurs predominantly in the C5 region and has been called C5 paralysis representatively. The primary lesions of this paralysis, i.e., whether it is of root or spinal cord origin, and the nature of the factors inducing the paralysis are not clear [1-3]. Trauma-induced paralysis, e.g., by drill penetration or laminar-edge impingement, is not discussed here.