The pathogenesis of the cauda equina syndrome of ankylosing spondylitis is unknown. The long duration between the onset of ankylosing spondylitis and neurological symptoms (average 35 years in the Mayo Clinic series') argues against a shared inflammatory cause, as does the relative normality of CSF.' 2 Matthews suggested that arterial pulsations transmitted to the CSF might produce not only the...

A 26-year-old male with a history of a work-related back injury presented to the emergency department complaining of several weeks of low back pain radiating down his left leg. For the past day, he noticed numbness to his perineal area and feet bilaterally, and difficulty urinating. He denied recent trauma, leg weakness, or fevers. Physical examination revealed perineal anesthesia and decreased...

A 35 years old man presented with Cauda Equina syndrome caused by a bullet migrating down the spinal canal. The patient initially showed no neurological deficits after the gunshot injury but after 15 months he presented again with urinary and fecal incontinence. Lumbo-sacral X-ray showed a bullet at the level of L5-S1 so he was operated under fluoroscopic guidance. Patient's neurological defici...

Although very rare, cases of cauda equina tumours migrating several levels have been known to occur. We report two cases of cauda equina schwannomas which migrated from its primary site, one caudally and the other one rostrally as confirmed by magnetic resonance imaging perioperatively. The f irst patient was a 27-year-old man and the second a 41year-old man; both presented with back pain. This...

conclusions the predictive value of the two statistically significant red flags only marginally raises the clinical suspicion of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. effective risk stratification of patients presenting to the ed with acute back pain is crucial; however, this study did not support the use of these red flags in their current form. patients and methods it was a retrospective c...