INTRAMEDULLARY CAVITATION RESULTING FROM ADHESIVE SPINAL ARACHNOIDITIS

Abstract

In 1897 Schwarz¹presented before the medical society in Vienna the first clinicopathologic report of a case of chronic adhesive arachnoiditis in which the spinal cord displayed focal areas of softening and cavitation. He expressed the belief that the condition was of syphilitic origin, but the evidence is not available. Since that time the twin problems of adhesive arachnoiditis and intramedullary cavitation have been the subject of much study, and the question of their interrelation—which is the cause and which the consequence—has received particular attention. Pette,²Davison and Keschner,³Yasuda⁴and, more recently, Lubin⁵have reported cases presenting a combination of the two features. The intramedullary cavitation in these and in other instances has often been improperly grouped under the heading of syringomyelia. Even the terms "pseudosyringomyelia" and "secondary syringomyelia" must be considered inappropriate, for they imply an etiologic basis which, if not identical with,