A rare case of cobb syndrome in a black person managed conservatively

Abstract

Cobb syndrome is a rare metameric disorder, characterized by either an angioma or an arteriovenous malformation of the spinal cord, with an associated vascular skin lesion of the same metamere. They are less than 50 cases reported to date. Most of the cases were in whites. We report a case of an 18-year-old black man who presented with sudden severe backache with rapidly progressing paraplegia and bowel and bladder symptoms. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an arteriovenous malformation from forth to the twelfth thoracic vertebrae (T4-T12). He had a congenital cutaneous vascular back lesion covering the same dermatomes. This is diagnostic of Cobb´s syndrome.

Keywords

• cobb syndrome
• vascular skin lesion
• paraplegia