Quadriplegia with cervical cord compression.

Accepted 17 July 1996 A 36-year-old man was admitted to this unit with almost complete quadriplegia with no sensory level. The bladder and bowel functions had remained intact. When he was a 20-year-old student he had presented with brachialgia and neck swelling, which had been aspirated percutaneously in India in 1980; the fluid was discovered to contain protoscolecs and he was given a full course of mebendazole. Two years later he developed spinal cord compression. He had posterior exploration and cervical laminectomy in the Middle East in 1982 followed by another three surgical attempts posteriorly with further laminectomies in the Middle East in 1983, India in 1985, and USSR in 1989. Each attempt was followed by a course of mebendazole and resulted in a minimal degree of improvement for a short period of time. Plain X-ray of the cervical spine showed a swan neck deformity. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed (figure).