Acute central cervical spinal cord syndrome.

Two cases of the acute central cervical spinal cord syndrome are presented. A 63-year-old diabetic hypertensive man manifested the syndrome as a result of atraumatic ischemia of the cord. A 32-year-old health man developed it after sustaining a hyperextension injury in a baseball game. The pathogenesis and pathophysiology of this entity are reviewed. Knowledge of this entity is of major importance in the analysis and management of head and neck trauma, as well as in the recognition and management of atraumatic neurologic dysfunction due to ischemia, hemorrhage, or thrombosis.