Question
On august 15 my husband crushed his t4. They reconstructed it and added screws and rods. He now has brown sequard syndrome. He also is impotent with virtually no feeling there anymore. He is fixing to have the hardware removed. We get very little in information from his neurosurgeon. We would like to know. Is the brown sequard permanent? Is the impotence? Will these things get better after the 9 week infected hardware is taken out? Any information will help. His doc's bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired.  

Answer
Dear Katrina, I'm not familiar with this syndrome, but I did find the following information. I hopes this helps. Sincerely, Ken

Brown Sequard Syndrome
Source: Healthwise-NORD
Discussion Brown-Sequard syndrome is a rare spinal disorder that results from an injury to one side of the spinal cord in which the spinal cord is damaged but is not severed completely. It is usually caused by an injury to the spine in the region of the neck or back. In many cases, affected individuals have received some type of puncture wound in the neck or in the back that damages the spine and causes symptoms to appear. Characteristically, the affected person loses the sense of touch, vibrations and/or position in three dimensions below the level of the injury (hemiparalysis or asymmetric paresis#. The sensory loss is particularly strong on the same side #ipsilateral# as the injury to the spine. These sensations are accompanied by a loss of the sense of pain and of temperature #hypalgesia# on the side of the body opposite #contralateral) to the side at which the injury was sustained.