Lhermitte S Sign

Lhermitte's Sign

Lhermitte's Sign is an electric shock-like piercing pain that travels down the arms or torso when the neck is flexed. This pain is a nonspecific manifestation of any disease of the cervical spinal cord.

The symptom was first described by French neurologist Jean Lhermitte in 1920. It occurs due to damage (demyelination) of the sensory nerve fibers of the spinal cord. Most often, Lhermitte's symptom is observed in multiple sclerosis, but it can also occur in other diseases, such as spinal cord tumors, cervical injuries, infections, and vitamin B12 deficiency.

Diagnosis of Lhermitte's sign is based on the patient's characteristic description of pain and neurological examination. Additional spinal cord imaging may be required to determine the cause and location of the lesion. Treatment is aimed at relieving pain and eliminating the underlying disease that caused the symptom.

Lhermitte's Sign

Lhermitte's sign is an electric shock-like piercing pain that travels down the arms or torso when the neck is flexed. This pain is a nonspecific manifestation of any disease of the cervical spinal cord.

The symptom was first described by the French neurologist Jean Lhermitte in 1909 and bears his name. It occurs due to damage or demyelination (destruction of the myelin sheath of nerve fibers) of the sensory nerve tracts in the cervical spinal cord.

The most common causes of Lhermitte's sign are multiple sclerosis, spinal cord tumors, cervical spine injuries, and degenerative spinal diseases. It can also occur with vitamin B12 deficiency, infections, HIV and other conditions.

Thus, Lhermitte’s symptom is an important diagnostic sign indicating pathology of the cervical spinal cord and requires further examination to establish an accurate diagnosis.

Lhermitte's sign is a “symptom of electric shock” (in English sources “Lhermitte’s sign”): shooting, dagger-like pain in the back of the neck and upper limbs when moving the head. Pain is observed in diseases of the cervical spine, less often in diseases of the spinal cord (in this case, the neuralgic component of pain, as a rule, prevails over the radicular one) and chest organs (pleurisy, intercostal neuralgia), as well as in malignant tumors of the skull. May be associated with some vovle