What is spinal cord embolism syndrome?

       Spinal cord embolism syndrome occurs in children or adolescents, mostly due to urinary dysfunction, and is often seen in urology; it affects the school life of the affected children, and many of them miss school and stay away from society. In fact, it is a neurological disease. The spinal cord is located in the spinal canal, and it is generally believed that the spinal column grows faster than the spinal cord during the growth and development of children. If the spinal cord cone is pulled by various factors during the ascending process, making the cone position lower than the normal level, the spinal cord cone and cauda equina will be damaged and produce a series of neurological dysfunction and limb deformity, because the spinal cord cone and cauda equina are fixed by the pull, so the image is called spinal cord The spinal cord is called “embolism” syndrome.  The clinical manifestations of spinal cord embolism syndrome are often six major symptoms: 1, pain: usually the lumbosacral pain is more common than the lower extremities, pain is limited to the low back, groin, perineum and buttocks, sometimes can be radiated to the lower extremities, lumbosacral activities, especially flexion and extension movements will make these symptoms increased.  2.Sensory-motor disorders: lower limb motor disorders, manifested as progressive lower limb weakness and walking difficulties; sensory disorders, manifested as numbness and hypoesthesia in the saddle area, i.e. sacrococcygeal area.  3, urinary symptoms: manifested as tension, filling incontinence, frequent urination, increased residual urine and cause recurrent urinary tract infections.  4, rectal dysfunction: weakened peristaltic function of the colon and rectum, loss of normal defecation reflex; manifested as constipation, defecation difficulties.  5, limb deformities: common spinal deformities include scoliosis and excessive anterior convexity of the spine; lower limb deformities, hammertoes, high arched feet, horseshoe feet, foot entropion are seen.  6, lumbosacral skin abnormalities: patients often have local skin depression, hair clumping, subcutaneous lipoma, pigmentation and cutaneous hemangioma, neurotrophic ulcers are rare, etc.  Spinal cord embolism syndrome is generally considered to be ineffective with conservative treatment and requires consideration of surgical treatment. The neurosurgery department of Shanghai Integrated Hospital of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine conducted in-depth research on this intractable disease as early as 1980s. In the last decade, microscopic neurosurgery techniques were used to loosen spinal cord adhesions, release the pull on the spinal cord, carefully separate the cone and cauda equina under the microscope, remove tissues such as lipoma and teratoma under neurophysiological detection, completely cut off the tense end filaments, restore blood circulation to the damaged area, and maximize limited restoration of damaged nerve function. A wide and intact dural capsule was reconstructed to allow adequate filling of cerebrospinal fluid between the spinal cord and dura mater to prevent adhesions from re-embolizing. Postoperative treatment with acupuncture and biofeedback resulted in significant improvement in urinary and fecal function.  Although there is variation among reports for the prognosis of spinal cord embolism syndrome, it is certain that surgery is indicated for spinal cord embolism syndrome. Pain is most likely to be controlled. Improvement in back and leg pain after surgery was reported in 78% to 83% of patients. In patients with progressive aggravation of motor disorders before surgery, 64% of symptoms improved after surgery, 27% of symptoms did not worsen after surgery, while sensory disorders (such as numbness and abnormal sensation) improved poorly, and 50% of patients did not improve significantly; symptoms such as foot deformity and scoliosis partially improved after surgery; bladder function improved in 14% to 60% of patients, and patients with preoperative bladder dysfunction lasting less than 3 to 5 years had a relatively The prognosis for patients with preoperative bladder dysfunction lasting less than 3-5 years is relatively good.