United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

I remember reading that a few obpi adults have had images done and found changes in their spinal cord, such as thinning or compression. Are any of you out there?????

If so, did your MRI show the area right above C1, which would show your brainstem and your cerebellum? The reason I am asking is because recently we had a cervical spine MRI done on my child and they incidentally found a very large cyst near the brainstem and below the cerebellum. It is an arachnoid cyst and could have some very serious consequences, including permanent brain damage. We went to a top doctor at UCLA (the one who separated the twins joined at the head), and he said it could "possibly" be from the initial injury. We are in so much shock and so very concerned about the new finding, that we did not ask him to further elaborate on the possible correlation, but the more I think, the more I wonder.

I was also at a seminar where they briefly talked about how immediately after a bpi, there is hemorrhaging. These cysts can be caused by hemorrhaging, and since heads are pulled downward during the injury, it makes me wonder about where the end range of the force is exerted and where hemorrhaging or cerebral spinal fluid may gather.

The cyst is so clear on the MRI, and so darn scary. My heart is broken and I can't believe we are dealing with even more issues and much more serious than a bpi, which is serious enough in itself. I just can't seem to get past the coincidence of the cyst being right above the cervical spine. I could be way off, but even my son's pediatrician says it seems way too coincidental.

I would GREATLY appreciate any sharing about your personal cervical spine images or your thoughts on the possible anatomy of all of this, "if" indeed it is even related.

Thanks.

I am so sorry to hear about your child. I recently had surgery for spinal cord compression at C-4/C-5. I was told it was due to a large bone spur combined with an abnormally narrow spinal cord which was probably congenital. They removed the vertbrae and put in a bone graft and titanium plate. I don't think there is a cyst involved. Wish I could have helped more. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress. Pat Q

This is interesting, although it does not talk about cysts developing higher. I just wish more doctors were researching more of this stuff. There is just SO much more than related to this injury than anyone is even looking at.

J Child Neurol. 2002 Oct;17(10):770-2. PubMed abstract

Cervicothoracic extradural arachnoid cyst: possible association with obstetric brachial plexus palsy.

Miravet E, Sinisterra S, Birchansky S, Papazian O, Tuite G, Grossman JA, Alfonso I.

Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain.

The association of cervicothoracic extradural arachnoid cysts and obstetric brachial plexus palsy has not previously been reported. We report two patients with this association. The first patient is a 9-month-old boy with left obstetric brachial plexus palsy that developed bilateral leg weakness at 6 months of age owing to compression of the spinal cord by a C6 to T8 left cervicothoracic extradural arachnoid cyst. The second patient is a 3-year-old girl with bilateral brachial plexus palsy and spastic paraparesis who had magnetic resonance imaging at 3 days of age that showed intraspinal cord injury and a cervicothoracic extradural arachnoid cyst compressing the spinal cord. We believe that the association of cervicothoracic epidural arachnoid cysts and obstetric brachial plexus palsy in these patients was causal and recommend that the possibility of a cervicothoracic epidural arachnoid cyst be considered in patients with brachial plexus palsy and evidence of spinal cord injury.