What causes Tabetic gait?

“Tabetic gait” is a characteristic ataxic gait of untreated syphilis where the person’s feet slap the ground as they strike the floor due to loss of proprioception. In daylight the person can avoid some unsteadiness by watching their own feet.

What is tabes dorsalis and what causes it?

Tabes dorsalis is a form of neurosyphilis, which is a complication of late stage syphilis infection. Syphilis is a bacterial infection that is spread sexually. When syphilis is untreated, the bacteria damages the spinal cord and peripheral nervous tissue. This leads to the symptoms of tabes dorsalis.

What are the symptoms of neurosyphilis?

Symptoms

  • Abnormal walk (gait), or unable to walk.
  • Numbness in the toes, feet, or legs.
  • Problems with thinking, such as confusion or poor concentration.
  • Mental problems, such as depression or irritability.
  • Headache, seizures, or stiff neck.
  • Loss of bladder control (incontinence)
  • Tremors, or weakness.

What does Tabetic mean?

tabetic (plural tabetics) (medicine, psychiatry, dated) A person who has tabes. (medicine, psychiatry, dated) A person who has syphilitic tabes dorsalis; a person with advanced syphilis including neurosyphilis.

What is Tabetic stamping?

tabetic gait an ataxic gait in which the feet slap the ground; in daylight the patient can avoid some unsteadiness by watching his feet. three-point gait that in which both crutches and the affected leg are advanced together and then the normal leg is moved forward. See illustration at crutches.

What is Tabetic?

Can neurosyphilis be detected by a blood test?

A blood test can detect middle-stage neurosyphilis. There are a variety of blood tests that will show whether you currently have syphilis or if you had an infection in the past.

What part of the brain is affected by neurosyphilis?

The middle cerebral artery is most often affected. Parenchymal syphilis occurs years to decades after initial infection. It presents with the constellation of symptoms known as tabes dorsalis, because of a degenerative process of the posterior columns of the spinal cord.

Which tract is damaged in tabes dorsalis?

What is tabes dorsalis symptoms?

Symptoms include any of the following:

  • Abnormal sensations (paresthesia), often called “lightning pains”
  • Problems walking such as with the legs far apart.
  • Loss of coordination and reflexes.
  • Joint damage, especially of the knees.
  • Muscle weakness.
  • Vision changes.
  • Bladder control problems.
  • Sexual function problems.

What causes shooting pain in tabes dorsalis?

The progressive degeneration of the spinal sensory nerve roots along the dorsal column of the spinal cord essentially causes a functional deafferentation, as seen in Figure 6. This includes the sensory nerve fibers innervating the skin and the viscera, causing pain comparable to amputation or diabetic neuropathies.