Other causes include vasculitis, polycythemia, sickle cell disease, decompression sickness, and collagen and elastin disorders.

It begins at the foramen magnum where branches of the two vertebral arteries exit, merge, and descend along the anterior spinal cord.

As the anterior spinal artery proceeds inferiorly, it receives branches originating mostly from the aorta.

[1] The largest aortic branch is the artery of Adamkiewicz which supplies the anterior spinal cord from the level of T8 vertebrae all the way to conus medullaris[7] Treatment is determined based on the primary cause of anterior spinal cord syndrome.

The mortality rate is approximately 20%, with 50% of individuals living with anterior spinal cord syndrome having very little or no changes in symptoms.