Spinal Hemorrhagic Disease with Special Reference to the Cases of Misdiagnosed as Cerebral Stroke

There are few cases of spinal hemorrhagic disease compared to cerebral stroke. However, progress in diagnostic neuroradiology has shown that it is not such a rare disease. We report on cases of spinal hemorrhagic disease that were diagnosed as cerebral stroke. Subjects are 13 cases of spinal hemorrhagic disease that we treated from September 1998 to November 2003. Among these cases, 6 patients were initially diagnosed as cerebral stroke. These comprised 3 cases of spinal epidural hematoma, 1 case of spinal subdural hematoma and 2 cases of spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage. In most cases, they presented with neck, back or low back pain, but a few cases presented with hemiparesis and were not diagnosed as spinal disease. These cases are likely to misdiagnosed as cerebral stroke. Hematomas often occur on 1 side of spinal cord and lead to hemiparesis. Now we can easily and correctly diagnose spinal hemorrhagic disease using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Spinal hemorrhagic diseases are rare but a good prognosis can be expected with appropriate diagnosis and treatment.