[Destructive lesions of the middle and lower part of the cervical spine during rheumatoid arthritis. Study of the neurological complications. A case with quadriplegia].

Lesions of the middle and lower part of the cervical spine during rheumatoid arthritis are less frequent than those of the cervico-occipital joint. They concern the discs on the one hand, the posterior inter-apophyseal joints, on the other hand. The authors report a case of rheumatic spondylodiscitis of C5-C6 with dislocation, complicated by quadriplegia, and review other published cases of rheumatoid lesions of the middle and lower cervical spine with neurological complications. The mechanisms of these lesions and their complications are then discussed.