There still reigns a great confusion of opinions relative to the nature and origin of spinal cord cavities in general, and of those known as syringomyelia in particular. Thus, Schlesinger,1after extremely detailed discussion (covering 140 pages) concerning the pathology and pathogenesis of syringomyelia, comes to the conclusion that it may be caused by many anatomically different processes, and offers the following anatomic classification of spinal cord cavities: 1. Cyst formations (caused by injuries of the spinal cord, i. e., traumatic, also nontraumatic hematomyelias). 2. Softenings of inflammatory and noninflammatory origin, with a short course of the morbid process. 3. Syringomyelien, in the form of: (a) malformation; (b) an actual tumor formation; (c) syringomyelia gliosa; (d) syringomyelia from vascular disorders without gliosis, and (e) pachymeningitis and leptomeningitis combined with cavity formations. Schlesinger thus accepts at least five types of syringomyelia, each type differing from the rest anatomically and pathologically.
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George B. Hassin (1920) studied this question.