Definition
Spastic quadriparesis is a form of paralysis that involves simultaneously the voluntary musculature of all four limbs. This condition is associated with more or less extensive sensory deficits and partial or complete loss of movement.
The clinical picture of spastic tetraparesis is also characterized by stiffness and muscular hypertonus (pyramidal syndrome); osteotendinous reflexes are accentuated in the affected limbs and voluntary movements are insufficient and poorly coordinated.
Spastic tetraparesis can result from spinal cord compressions or trauma at the cervical spine, or from circulatory problems involving ischemia of the nervous tissue. This manifestation can also be found in infantile cerebral palsy, conditions that depend on neurological damage suffered during or immediately after birth.
Other causes include acute porphyrias, poliomyelitis, multiple sclerosis and some brain tumors.
9-year-old child with spastic cerebral palsy and spina bifida. Credits: arindambanerjee / Shutterstock.com
Possible Causes * of Spastic Tetraparesis
- Japanese encephalitis
- Stroke
- Myasthenia gravis
- Paget's disease
- Polio
- Porphyria
- radiculopathy
- Multiple sclerosis
- Syringomyelia
- Spinal cord tumors
