Spinal Cord Infarction following Spine Surgery in the Patient with Vertebral Bursting Fracture : A case report. |
Sang Jin Park, Hyun Chul Jung, Dae Lim Jee |
1Dalseong-gun Public Health Center, Korea. 2Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Korea. djee@medical.yeungnam.ac.kr |
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Abstract |
Spinal cord infarction as a complication of spine surgery occurs rarely. Herein, a case of spinal cord infarction, which developed in a 69 year old woman following posterior decompression and internal fixation for a T11 bursting fracture, is descirbed. The anesthetic induction and intraoperative course were uneventful, except at the end of the procedure, where her blood pressure suddenly dropped from 130/90 to 90/60 mmHg. The patient was aggressively treated with a transfusion and vasopressor, the blood pressure then returned to its usual value within 10 minutes.
However, during a physical examination in the recovery room, the patient was found to have flaccid lower limbs, with impaired sensory function below the T8 level. Her cord diameter had increased, and a high signal lesion was observed within the thoracic spinal cord, from T9 to T12 level on T2-weighted MR images, which was diagnosing as a spinal cord infarction, was and showed no improvement despite the immediate and aggressive treatment. |
Key Words:
spinal cord infarction; spine surgery |
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