High sensitivity of dermatomal contact-heat evoked potentials in “snake-eye” appearance myelopathy

Background: A bilateral high signal intensity of the grey matter on axial T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images is commonly referred to as “snake-eye” appearance myelopathy (SEAM) [1]. SEAM has been mainly described in patients with cervical compressive myelopathies. The clinical diagnosis of SEAM can be challenging due to the slow evolvement, high variability of symptoms and often subtle clinical presentation. Dermatomal contact-heat evoked potentials (dCHEPs) have emerged as a new technique to assess the functional integrity of pain pathways in spinal cord disorders [2 – 5]. Although damage of central cor…