Wasting of the small and hand muscles in upper and mid-cervical cord lesions

摘要

four patients are described with destructive rheum- atoidarthritis of the cervical spine and neurogenic wasting of forearm andhand muscles. The patholo- gical connection is not immediatelyobvious, but a relationship between these two observations isdescribed here with clinical, radiological, electro- physiologicaland necropsy findings. Compression of the anterior spinal artery atupper and mid-cervical levels is demonstrated to be the likely causeof changes lower in the spinal cord.