Medial medullary infarction from fibrocartilaginous embolism to the anterior spinal artery.

A previously healthy young woman presented with sudden onset of quadriplegia, anesthesia below the C3 dermatome, respiratory paralysis, vertical nystagmus, ocular bobbing and cortical blindness. After partial resolution of the latter deficits, she remained quadriplegic, with a C3 level of anesthesia, and in respiratory paralysis until death from complications of a fulminant pulmonary infection. Autopsy disclosed bilateral infarctions of the medial aspect of the medulla and the upper cervical cord, in the distribution of the anterior spinal artery. Multiple sites of arterial occlusion by fibrocartilaginous material were found in branches of the anterior spinal artery, in correspondence with the sites of infarction. A review of the literature disclosed only 2 examples of medial medullary syndrome from embolism to the anterior spinal artery.