Charcot-Spine, or spinal neuroarthropathy, is a rare and particularly disabling complication of spinal cord injury.

This pathology was described in the 19th century by Jean-Martin Charcot and Kronig, in the context of various neurological pathologies, it is currently traumatic spinal cord injuries that are the main etiology of this spinal injury.

A lesion on the nervous system is essential for the development of this destruction of a mobile spinal segment. In addition, there is always a destabilizing biomechanical factor, which can take different forms.

This condition poses primarily diagnostic problems, due to its rarity, and especially the absence of any specific clinical or radiological element.

Pain is often at the forefront, sometimes associated with cracking sounds of spine. The subsequent instability of the trunk is correlated with a loss of autonomy, particularly for transfers.
The three components of the spinal functional unit are radiologically affected. Bone destruction is associated with thickening of the peri-articular soft tissue. Septic phenomena can be evoked in the presence of disc damage, especially since patients often have a history of infectious complications.

The treatment can only be surgical and requires circumferential stabilization. The extent of fixation must be discussed because of the risk of a new arthropathy at another level. These heavy surgeries are hampered, both in the author's experience and in the literature, by a high rate of infectious or mechanical complications that do not, however, call these treatments into question.