SELF ASSESSMENT QUESTION

Numbness and burning

A woman with painless burns

D Gaya, P McGill

Department of General Medicine, Stobhill Hospital, Balornock Road, Glasgow G21 3UW, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr Gaya;
danielgaya@aol.com

Submitted 25 June 2001

Accepted 21 August 2001

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Answers on 185.

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Keywords: syringomyelia; Arnold-Chiari malformation; lumbar radiculopathy; back pain; facet joint cyst

A 53 year old woman was referred to the general medical outpatient clinic. She had no relevant past medical history. Her main complaints were those of numbness and burning over her entire right forearm and hand. She felt that a recent cough had exacerbated the pain. In addition, she had burnt her right hand twice in the last month without even noticing. She denied any history of neck pain or stiffness and there was no history of spinal trauma.

On examination, she looked well and undistressed. There was nil of note on examination of the cardiorespiratory system or the abdomen. There were no palpable breast lumps or lymphadenopathy. Examination of the cranial nerves and lower limbs was unremarkable and in particular there were no long tract signs. The left upper limb was normal from a neurological point of view.

On neurological examination of the right upper limb, . . . [Full text of this article]

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Relevant Article

An uncommon cause of lumbar radiculopathy
Postgrad. Med. J. 2002 78: 186. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]