Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Tetraplegia
Paralysis of all four limbs
HP:0002445
What it means
Paralysis of all four limbs, and trunk of the body below the level of an associated injury to the spinal cord. The etiology of quadriplegia is similar to that of paraplegia except that the lesion is in the cervical spinal cord rather than in the thoracic or lumbar segments of the spinal cord.
In everyday care
Most people with this sign do not have a rare disease — it appears in common conditions far more often. These general reference pages cover the same topic:
Rare diseases that can present with this21
Very common80–99%
4Common30–79%
8- Alexander disease
- Alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency
- Autosomal recessive spastic paraplegia type 9B
- Early-onset progressive diffuse brain atrophy-microcephaly-muscle weakness-optic atrophy syndrome
- Lethal ataxia with deafness and optic atrophy
- Lissencephaly due to LIS1 mutation
- Severe motor and intellectual disabilities-sensorineural deafness-dystonia syndrome
- X-linked spastic paraplegia type 16
Sometimes5–29%
7The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Quadriplegia
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.