 |
Case Report
Unilateral foot drop caused by thoracic herniated intervertebral disc
1 Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 138, Shengli Rd., North Dist., Tainan City 70403, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
2 Department of Internal Medicine, University of Washington Medical Center, 9725 3rd Ave NE #400, Seattle, Washington 98115, USA
3 Department of Radiology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 138, Shengli Rd., North Dist., Tainan City 70403, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
4 Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City 70101, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Address correspondence to:
Jung-Shun Lee
MD, MSc, Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Attending Doctor, Department of Neurosurgery, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, No. 1, Daxue Rd., East Dist., Tainan City 70101,
Taiwan (R.O.C.)
Message to Corresponding Author
Article ID: 101078Z01HH2019
Access full text article on other devices
Access PDF of article on other devices
How to cite this article
Hsu HJ, Sze J, Wang CK, Lee JS. Unilateral foot drop caused by thoracic herniated intervertebral disc. Int J Case Rep Images 2019;10:101078Z01HH2019.ABSTRACT
Introduction: Among the spinal disorder, unilateral weakness of foot dorsiflexion (drop foot) usually arises from lumbar herniated intervertebral discs (HIVD), especially at the L4/5 level. In contrast, symptomatic thoracic HIVD is rare, and the most common symptoms are pain and sensory disturbance along the involved root dermatomes. Myelopathy below the affected spinal level has been reported with central and large thoracic disc herniation.
Case Report: We report a male patient with left drop foot, who was initially ascribed to lumbar spondylosis from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. After meticulous neurologic examination, the cause of drop foot was thoracic (T10/11) HIVD, which was completely recovered after surgical decompression.
Conclusion: We review the literature regarding single level of thoracolumbar herniated disc, detail the pathogenesis of drop foot caused by low thoracic HIVD, and remind the importance of correlating physical examinations and imaging findings.
Keywords: Foot drop, Thoracic herniated intervertebral disc, Upper motor neuron
SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Author Contributions
Heng-Juei Hsu - Substantial contributions to conception and design, Drafting the article, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
James Sze - Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Chien-Kuo Wang - Interpretation of data, Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Jung-Shun Lee - Revising it critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published
Guarantor of SubmissionThe corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.
Source of SupportNone
Consent StatementWritten informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.
Data AvailabilityAll relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.
Conflict of InterestAuthors declare no conflict of interest.
Copyright© 2019 Heng-Juei Hsu et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.
