Definitions of traumatic conus medullaris and cauda equina syndrome: a systematic literature review.
-
Brouwers E
Department of Neurosurgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
-
van de Meent H
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
-
Curt A
Spinal Cord Injury Center, Balgrist University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
-
Starremans B
Faculty of Medical Sciences, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
-
Hosman A
Department of Orthopedics, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
-
Bartels R
Department of Neurosurgery, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Show more…
English
STUDY DESIGN
A systematic review.
OBJECTIVES
Conus medullaris syndrome (CMS) and cauda equina syndrome (CES) are well-known neurological entities. It is assumed that these syndromes are different regarding neurological and functional prognosis. However, literature concerning spinal trauma is ambiguous about the exact definition of the syndromes.
METHODS
A MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane literature search was performed. We included original articles in which clinical descriptions of CMS and/or CES were mentioned in patients following trauma to the thoracolumbar spine.
RESULTS
Out of the 1046 articles, we identified 14 original articles concerning patients with a traumatic CMS and/or CES. Based on this review and anatomical data from cadaveric and radiological studies, CMS and CES could be more precisely defined.
CONCLUSION
CMS may result from injury of vertebrae Th12-L2, and it involves damage to neural structures from spinal cord segment Th12 to nerve root S5. CES may result from an injury of vertebrae L3-L5, and it involves damage to nerve roots L3-S5. This differentiation between CMS and CES is necessary to examine the hypothesis that CES patients tend to have a better functional outcome.
-
Language
-
-
Open access status
-
bronze
-
Identifiers
-
-
Persistent URL
-
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/266633
Statistics
Document views: 19
File downloads: