Specific causes of diaphragmatic paralysis

* Conditions causing cervical cord injury include head and neck trauma, cervical spondylosis, compressive tumors, inflammation/demyelination (eg, multiple sclerosis), and ischemia (eg, spinal cord stroke, iatrogenic complication of bronchial artery embolization).
¶ Multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder may interrupt central motor pathways to the diaphragm via demyelinating lesions in the medulla and cervical spinal cord.
Δ Several disorders can case brachial plexus injury, including neuralgic amyotrophy, radiation therapy, hereditary brachial plexopathy, and nerve blocks; nerves outside the plexus (eg, the phrenic nerve) may be involved.
◊ This overlaps with cervical cord injury and may be caused by cervical spondylosis, cervical compressive tumors, neck trauma, neck surgery, and cervical manipulation therapy.
§ Intrathoracic disease, such as pneumonia, tumors, fibrosis (eg, sclerosing mediastinitis), or mediastinal chest tubes, can compress, inflame, or injure the phrenic nerve locally to cause unilateral paralysis.