Neurologic Complication Following Spinal Epidural Anesthesia in a Patient with Spinal Intradural Extramedullary Tumor. |
Sung Hoon Kim, Geun Sung Song, Dong Wuk Son, Sang Won Lee |
Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Yangsan Pusan National University, Yangsan, Korea. gnsong@pusan.ac.kr |
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ABSTRACT |
Paraplegia following spinal epidural anesthesia is extremely rare. Various lesions for neurologic complications have been documented in the literature. We report a 66-year-old female who developed paraplegia after left knee surgery for osteoarthritis under spinal epidural anesthesia. In the recovery room, paraplegia and numbness below T4 vertebra was checked. A magnetic resonance image (MRI) scan showed a spinal thoracic intradural extramedullary (IDEM) tumor.
After extirpation of the tumor, the motor weakness improved to the grade of 3/5. If a neurologic deficit following spinal epidural anesthesia does not resolve, a MRI should be performed without delay to accurately diagnose the cause of the deficit and optimal treatment should be rendered for the causative lesion. |
Key Words:
Spinal epidural anesthesia; Spinal intradural extramedullary tumor |
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