Spinal cord degeneration associated with type II decompression sickness: Case report

Abstract

The medical history, clinical and neuropathological findings at necropsy are described in a 50-year-old male amateur diver who suffered from Type II decompression sickness, a spinal ‘bend’. He survived as a paraplegic for 4 years. In the spinal cord upward Wallerian degeneration in the posterior columns and downward degeneration in the corticospinal tracts was explained by multiple small and medium sized infarcts affecting the centripetal blood supply to the cord. There was preservation of a rim of subpial fibres on the surface of the posterior and lateral columns. The grey matter and nearby white matter (supplied by the centrifugal arterial supply) was unaffected. © 1989 International Medical Society of Paraplegia.