Anatomical Basis of Spinal Cord Function

Abstract

Despite the ability radiologically to image the spinal cord in great detail, history and physical examination remains the basis for the management of patients with disorders of the spinal cord. Knowledge of both the external and internal anatomy of the spinal cord is required for accurate interpretation of clinical findings. This chapter will review the important external features of the spinal cord as well as the main clinically relevant white matter tracts and grey matter nuclei. The reader is referred to the chapter on spinal vascular disease (Chapter 24) for details of the blood supply of the cord. In this chapter, the terms anterior and posterior will be used but they are synonymous with ventral and dorsal, respectively.