Siringomielia dorsal, a propósito de un caso

Abstract

Syringomyelia is a pathology characterized by the presence of a cyst inside the spinal cord. This pathology has an incidence of 8.4 new persons each year per 100,000 inhabitants. The average age of onset is approximately 30 years with an evolution period of 6 years. The following is the clinical case of a 64-year-old male patient with no clinical or surgical history of importance, who comes to the Emergency Department of Hospital General Ambato for paresthesia in lower limbs of progressive evolution, the physical examination shows an unstable gait with increased base of support, decreased strength, spastic paresthesia, inability to ambulation and standing, bilateral positive Babinski, bilateral patellar and bilateral Achilles hyperreflexia with sensitive level in T10. Simple magnetic resonance imaging of the dorsal spine was performed, showing an intramedullary cystic lesion extending from T2 to T9, reaching the diagnosis of Dorsal Syringomyelia not related to other anomalies such as Arnold Chiari Type I. Shunting of the syringoma to the subarachnoid space is a definitive surgical treatment, however, in some cases the procedure succeeds in reducing the size of the syringoma but does not produce any notable improvement in the patient's clinical condition.