Ultrastructure of the human posttraumatic syrinx

1989 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kesava K. V. Reddy ◽  
Marc R. Del Bigio ◽  
Garnette R. Sutherland

✓ Although posttraumatic syringomyelia is a well-established clinicopathological entity, there is a paucity of information on the ultrastructural features of this condition. This study documents the light and electron microscopic features of posttraumatic syringes obtained from two patients who underwent surgical cordectomy. The syringes were lined largely by cell processes of astrocytes. Small regions near the caudal end were lined by flattened ependymal cells that lacked surface specializations. These were thought to represent remnants of the central canal ependyma. The ultrastructural appearance of the syrinx was similar to that of the communicating syringomyelia as well as the periventricular changes that accompany hydrocephalus. The authors conclude that the changes represent the nonspecific sequelae of a distensile force within the syrinx cavity.

1976 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 576-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Peserico ◽  
Paolo Angiari ◽  
Gian Antonio Merli ◽  
Vittorio Sonnino ◽  
Pietro Faglioni ◽  
...  

✓ Several investigative procedures are currently used to diagnose communicating syringomyelia. The combination of isotope ventriculography and lumbar myelocisternography has never been proposed nor carried out to verify this condition. We feel that this is a safe and valuable procedure to identify a patent central canal communicating with the fourth ventricle and is worth considering when diagnosing communicating syringomyelia.


1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc R. Del Bigio ◽  
J. Edward Bruni ◽  
H. Derek Fewer

✓ An infant of 43 weeks gestational age with severe congenital hydrocephalus was operated on for removal of a subependymal astrocytoma in the region of the foramen of Monro. A biopsy of periventricular tissue was taken from the lateral ventricle for examination by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The ependyma was largely denuded, with glial cell processes forming most of the ventricular lining. Many of the attenuated ependymal cells, however, had intact junctional complexes at areas of contact with other ependymal cells. Club-shaped unipolar cells, believed to be a previously undescribed form of immature ependymal cells, were found in the ventricular lining. Cerebrospinal fluid edema was present in the neuropil up to 60 µm from the ventricular lumen, but there was no obvious axonal pathology in the tissues examined.


1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vira Kasantikul ◽  
Martin G. Netsky ◽  
A. Everette James

✓ The central canal of the spinal cord in man with and without hydrocephalus was studied histologically. The lumen was patent in most patients in the first two decades of life. Cells lining the canal in the prenatal and newborn state and in the first decade of life were predominantly pseudostratified ciliated epithelium. In the second decade, the epithelium became simple columnar or cuboidal. The central canal closed in most cases after the age of 20 years, secondary to proliferation of ependymal cells and astrocytes. Mechanisms whereby the number of glial cells increase are considered. The canal was closed in all adults with normal ventricular size, and in 94% of persons with various degrees of hydrocephalus. In the remaining 6% of cases with hydrocephalus, the lining of the canal resembled that seen in the first two decades, and could have acted as a pathway of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) absorption. Three cases of severe hydrocephalus in the first two decades of life were encountered; the central canal was patent in one, and occluded in two. Based on these data, the canal was not a significant pathway of CSF absorption in most instances of hydrocephalus and in persons with dilated ventricles who were older than 20 years of age.


1993 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Milhorat ◽  
Fariborz Nobandegani ◽  
John I. Miller ◽  
Chandrakant Rao

✓ This report describes a new and reliable technique for producing experimental noncommunicating syringomyelia. In 30 rats, 1.2 to 1.6 µl of kaolin was microinjected into the dorsal columns and central gray matter of the spinal cord at C-6. The inoculations caused transient neurological deficits in four animals and no deficits in 26 animals. Within 24 hours, kaolin and polymorphonuclear leukocytes entered the central canal and drained rostrally. The clearance of inflammatory products induced a proliferation of ependymal cells and periependymal fibrous astrocytes, which formed synechiae and obstructed the canal at the level of injection and at one or more levels up to C-1. In 22 animals followed for 48 hours or longer, the upper end of the central canal became acutely dilated and formed an ependyma-lined syrinx that enlarged to massive dimensions within 6 weeks. The rostral syrinxes did not communicate with the fourth ventricle and were not associated with hydrocephalus. The histological findings in acute noncommunicating syringomyelia were characterized by progressive stretching and thinning of the ependyma, elongation of intracanalicular septae, and the formation of periependymal edema. After 3 weeks, there was progressive compression of the periependymal tissues associated with stretching of axons, fragmentation of myelin sheaths, and the formation of myelin droplets. These findings and the sequence in which they evolved were identical in most respects to those occurring in acute and subacute noncommunicating hydrocephalus.


1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akio Asai ◽  
Hisashi Yamada ◽  
Sadayoshi Murata ◽  
Akira Matsuno ◽  
Kazuo Tsutsumi ◽  
...  

✓ A rare case of leiomyosarcoma arising from the dura mater is presented. A definite histological diagnosis was based on the electron microscopic features. Extensive removal of the tumor and postoperative radiation therapy resulted in complete remission. The etiology and the origin of this tumor are discussed.


1976 ◽  
Vol 45 (6) ◽  
pp. 683-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shokei Yamada ◽  
Phanor L. Perot ◽  
Thomas B. Ducker ◽  
Isabel Lockard

✓ A new myelotomy knife is described and a procedure, designed to sever certain reflex connections while preserving as many corticospinal connections as possible, is presented. Through intermittent dorsal midline incisions the gray matter lateral to the central canal is severed bilaterally under the microscope from L-1 to S-1. This procedure relieved mass spasms and hyperactive reflexes in 14 paraplegic or tetraplegic patients, but preserved postural reflexes and whatever voluntary motor power the patients had prior to myelotomy. Before myelotomy all patients were bedridden. Afterward nine patients were able to use a wheel chair and five were able to walk with the use of parallel bars or crutches.


1971 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuya Kobayashi ◽  
Louis Bakay ◽  
Joseph C. Lee

✓ The deposition of Hg203-chlormerodrin was studied in intracranial tumors in mice induced by implantation of 20-methyl cholanthrene by tissue assay, as well as light microscopic and electron microscopic autoradiography. The investigations were carried out in astrocytomas, glioblastomas, and meningeal tumors. The chlormerodrin content of the tumors exceeded that of normal brain with a significant tumor/brain ratio ranging from 5.8 to 22.5. It was found that the chlormerodrin molecule becomes rapidly incorporated in the tumor cells, with a preference for that portion of the cytoplasm associated with the vacuolar system.


1975 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan R. Hudson ◽  
David G. Kline

✓ Biopsies from partially lacerated nerves were taken at the sites of proximal stimulus, laceration, and distal recording, and from stimuli and recording sites of control nerves. Electron microscopic examination of the partially lacerated major fasciculus revealed three zones of injury. The laceration zone showed neurotemetic changes, the adjacent or intermediate zone, partial degeneration, and the zone most peripheral to the laceration, changes in ground substance. Progression of the original injury is apparently due to ongoing changes in the intermediate and peripheral zones while much of the relative early recovery is due to reversal of changes in these zones. Regeneration through the laceration or neurotemetic zone is limited but does account for a small amount of late recovery of function.


1978 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 970-974 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Everette James ◽  
William J. Flor ◽  
Gary R. Novak ◽  
Ernst-Peter Strecker ◽  
Barry Burns

✓ The central canal of the spinal cord has been proposed as a significant compensatory alternative pathway of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow in hydrocephalus. Ten dogs were made hydrocephalic by a relatively atraumatic experimental model that simulates the human circumstance of chronic communicating hydrocephalus. The central canal was studied by histopathology and compared with 10 normal control dogs. In both groups the central canal of the spinal cord was normal in size, configuration, and histological appearance. In this experimental model dilatation of the canal and increased movement of CSF does not appear to be a compensatory alternative pathway.


1977 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. James Gardner ◽  
Herbert S. Bell ◽  
Pete N. Poolos ◽  
Donald F. Dohn ◽  
Marta Steinberg

✓ The clinical course of 12 patients who underwent terminal ventriculostomy for syringomyelia is presented. Opening the central canal at the tip of the conus medullaris is a relatively benign procedure that improves the symptoms of syringomyelia and syringobulbia. This canal normally terminates at the tip of the conus, but in each of the 12 surgical specimens it continued into the filum terminale for distances up to 8 cm. In most cases the tip of the conus was located more caudally than normal, indicating some degree of tethering in fetal life. This belief is supported by the fact that the newborn, whose conus is tethered to a lipoma at the sacral level, may develop syringomyelia in adult life.


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