Infarction of the conus medullaris.

We encountered a patient with acute cauda equina syndrome. The clinical course, laboratory data and imaging study, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) strongly suggested that this episode was caused by a vascular disorder of the conus medullaris. We emphasized the diagnostic usefulness of MRI in the vascular disease of the conus medullaris as well as the clinical importance of this disease in the differential diagnosis of acute cauda equina syndrome.