Thrombosis of the posterior spinal arteries

THE CLINICAL SYNDROME of anterior spinal artery thrombosis is familiar to neurologists and, in a number of cases, the pathology has been displayed at aut0psy.l By contrast, thrombosis of one or both of the posterior spinal arteries is rarely recognized clinically and there have been few clinicopathological reports. For this reason it is of interest to report the following case and to record the new observation that this complication of posterior spinal artery thrombosis developed as a result of an intrathecal injection of phenol. For several years intrathecal phenol has been used for the treatment of intractable pain and from time to time neurological complications of this mode of therapy have been reported, b u t they have not yet included a description of an effect on the posterior spinal arteries.