• J Am Acad Orthop Sur · Aug 2008

    Review

    Cauda equina syndrome.

    • Leo R Spector, Luke Madigan, Alfred Rhyne, Bruce Darden, and David Kim.
    • OrthoCarolina Spine Center, 2001 Randolph Road, Charlotte, NC 28207, USA.
    • J Am Acad Orthop Sur. 2008 Aug 1;16(8):471-9.

    AbstractCauda equina syndrome is a relatively uncommon condition typically associated with a large, space-occupying lesion within the canal of the lumbosacral spine. The syndrome is characterized by varying patterns of low back pain, sciatica, lower extremity sensorimotor loss, and bowel and bladder dysfunction. The pathophysiology remains unclear but may be related to damage to the nerve roots composing the cauda equina from direct mechanical compression and venous congestion or ischemia. Early diagnosis is often challenging because the initial signs and symptoms frequently are subtle. Classically, the full-blown syndrome includes urinary retention, saddle anesthesia of the perineum, bilateral lower extremity pain, numbness, and weakness. Decreased rectal tone may be a relatively late finding. Early signs and symptoms of a developing postoperative cauda equina syndrome are often attributed to common postoperative findings. Therefore, a high index of suspicion is necessary in the postoperative spine patient with back and/or leg pain refractory to analgesia, especially in the setting of urinary retention. Regardless of the setting, when cauda equina syndrome is diagnosed, the treatment is urgent surgical decompression of the spinal canal.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…