Abstract
1. The theories that have been advanced to explain the occurrence of traumatic tetraplegia in patients without evidence of vertebral column injury are reviewed.
2. Traumatic tetraplegia of delayed onset is described in a middle-aged man with ankylosing spondylitis. There was no injury of the vertebral column.
3. The reasons are given for suggesting that the tetraplegia was caused by injury to the arterial supply of the cord.