Spinal cord

The spinal cord is a part of the vertebrate nervous system that is enclosed in and protected by the vertebral column (it passes through the spinal canal). It consists of nerve cells. The cord conveys the 31 spinal nerve pairs of the peripheral nervous system, as well as central nervous system pathways that innervate skeletal muscles.

Pathology

• Damage in the spinal cord, called myelopathy, can result in paraplegia or quadriplegia, depending on the level within the spinal cord of the damage.
• spinal tumor
• syringomyelia