Syringobulbia entities

Clinic

• Syringobulbia is a medical condition in which syrinxes, or fluid-filled cavities, affect the brainstem (usually the lower brainstem).
• The exact cause is often unknown, but may be linked to a widening of the central canal of the spinal cord. This may affect one or more cranial nerves, resulting in various kinds of facial palsies.
• Sensory and motor nerve pathways may be affected by interruption or compression of nerves.
• Syringomyelia develops in the center of the spinal cord, causing a central cord syndrome.

Signs and symptoms

• Pain
• Loss of sense of temperature (The first abnormality recognized may be a painless burn or cut). Deficit in pain and temperature sensation in a capelike distribution over the shoulders, arms and back is characteristic.
• Alveolar hypoventilation (Central hypoventilation syndrome) + Hypercapnia + Stridor + Irregular breathing
• It typically causes weakness, atrophy, and often fasciculations and hyperreflexia of the hands and arms
• Light touch and position and vibration sensation are not affected.
• Later, spastic leg weakness develops.

Syringobulbia may cause

• Vertigo
• Nystagmus
• Unilateral or bilateral loss of facial sensation
• Lingual atrophy and weakness
• Dysarthria
• Dysphagia
• Hoarseness
• Peripheral sensory or motor deficits

Cause

• Lesions that partially obstruct CSF flow.
• Congenital abnormalities of the craniocervical junction (Chiari malformation), brain (Encephalocele), or spinal cord (Myelomeningocele).
• Spinal cord tumor
• Scarring due to previous spinal trauma

Miams

PLV