Which condition describes a non-painful, asymmetrical paralysis due to a spinal cord infarction?

Which condition describes a non-painful, asymmetrical paralysis due to a spinal cord infarction?

• A. Exertional rhabdomyolysis
• B. Nutritional Myopathy
• C. Schiff-Sherrington posture
• D. Fibrocartilaginous Embolism

Answer: (D)

Fibrocartilaginous embolism best fits a spinal cord infarction that causes a sudden, focal loss of function with little or no pain. In this condition, disc material from the intervertebral space enters spinal vessels and blocks blood flow, creating an ischemic lesion in the cord. Because the injury is vascular and localized, the resulting weakness or paralysis is abrupt and often asymmetrical, depending on which vessels are occluded. Pain is typically absent, distinguishing it from inflammatory or muscular conditions. By comparison, exertional rhabdomyolysis involves painful muscle injury after exercise; nutritional myopathy presents with generalized, symmetric weakness from nutrient deficiency; Schiff-Sherrington posture is a postural sign of severe bilateral thoracic spinal cord disease, not a description of a focal infarct causing asymmetrical paralysis.

Fibrocartilaginous embolism best fits a spinal cord infarction that causes a sudden, focal loss of function with little or no pain. In this condition, disc material from the intervertebral space enters spinal vessels and blocks blood flow, creating an ischemic lesion in the cord. Because the injury is vascular and localized, the resulting weakness or paralysis is abrupt and often asymmetrical, depending on which vessels are occluded. Pain is typically absent, distinguishing it from inflammatory or muscular conditions.

By comparison, exertional rhabdomyolysis involves painful muscle injury after exercise; nutritional myopathy presents with generalized, symmetric weakness from nutrient deficiency; Schiff-Sherrington posture is a postural sign of severe bilateral thoracic spinal cord disease, not a description of a focal infarct causing asymmetrical paralysis.