Abstract
We report a case of 64-year-old Tunisian woman with a 12-year history of rheumatoid arthritis, who presented with a 3-month history of increasing inflammatory neck pain. Neurological examination noted a quadripyramidal syndrome without any neurological deficit. Radiographs of her neck showed ananterior atlantoaxial subluxation (A). MRI revealed a pannus around the atlanto axial joint. It also showed a co-existing syringomyelia (B). The cervical spine is frequently involved in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However, rheumatoid atlantoaxial subluxation with syringomyelia is very rare. Many hypothesised mechanisms were suggested for thesyrinx formation. The most commonly admitted, suggested that atlanto axial sub luxation may reduce the rate of ascending cerebrospinal fluid, so it would travel through the spinal cord producing syringomyelia.
Highlights
Syringomyelia associated to rheumatoid-atlantoaxial subluxation: about a new case
We report a case of 64-year-old Tunisian woman with a 12-year history of rheumatoid arthritis, who presented with a 3-month history of increasing inflammatory neck pain
The cervical spine is frequently involved in patients with rheumatoid arthritis
Summary
We report a case of 64-year-old Tunisian woman with a 12-year history of rheumatoid arthritis, who presented with a 3-month history of increasing inflammatory neck pain. Syringomyelia associated to rheumatoid-atlantoaxial subluxation: about a new case
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