A road-laborer, 42, in the 268th Infantry, had a bomb burst about a meter away, March 4, 1915. Three men nearby were killed, and two wounded. The laborer himself was turned over, covered with earth, and stunned. He could hardly get up. He was carried to shelter and found paralyzed on the left side, and unable to speak.
Next day, he was carried to the ambulance, and hemianesthesia was found to exist in addition to the hemiplegia. He could now speak with some difficulty and stammered. Vision and hearing were also impaired on the left side. Reflexes weak; no sign of wound. There was a convulsive crisis of some sort during the day, and afterwards the man complained of a violent headache, whereupon a lumbar puncture showed a clear fluid and a marked excess of albumin by the heat test.
The following day, March 6, the patient had much improved; his hemiplegia was less marked and the arm paralysis had almost entirely disappeared. He still stammered.
Upon the next day, vision and hearing were normal, and the sensation was practically normal. A second lumbar puncture, March 8, showed a diminution in the amount of albumin, although it was still supernormal.
March 9, leg contractured in extension; stammering.
March 12, there was no evidence of disease. March 13, albumin was very slightly increased over the normal in the puncture fluid. March 16, there was a slight trace only of weakness in the left leg. The urine was throughout normal. The patient wrote Bavo April 12, and May 7 he was well but still felt heaviness and pulling sensations.
July 15 it was reported at Tours that he was not yet well, presenting a left-sided hemiparesis, especially in the leg, with a syringomyelic dissociation of sensations, with atrophy of the quadriceps and diminution of reflexes on the left side. The patient had had a hematomyelia (Laignel-Lavastine).
Brachial monoplegia, tetanic.