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IMAGE QUIZ ARCHIVE

 

   
Image Quiz

Cervical Spine Trauma, Quadriparesis,
and Gas in the Spinal Canal


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A fifty-seven-year-old man was evaluated for quadriparesis that had developed after a fall from a standing position. The patient had a history of weakness in the right upper extremity with decreased grip strength, as well as occasional numbness and dysesthesias in the right lower extremity, for one month before the injury. On neurological examination, the motor strength of the biceps, wrist extensor, and triceps muscles was grade 3 of 5 bilaterally and the muscle strength of the hip flexor, quadriceps, and hallucis longus muscles was grade 4 of 5 bilaterally.

 

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 A non-enhanced transaxial computerized axial tomography scan demonstrated a large collection of gas in the mid-portion of the spinal canal at the interspace between the third and fourth cervical levels.
   
  What is the differential diagnosis?
   

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An MRI was performed.

  What is the diagnosis?


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