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Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma presenting as paraplegia after cardiac surgery

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Abstract

An 86-year-old woman was scheduled to undergo aortic valve replacement and coronary artery bypass graft. On postoperative day 3, she developed sudden-onset neck pain followed by weakness in the right arm. Her symptoms worsened with time, and she developed paraplegia. At 60 h after the first complaint, spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) from C2 to C6 with spinal cord compression was diagnosed from a magnetic resonance image of the cervical region. We decided on conservative therapy because operative recovery was impossible. Delayed diagnosis led to grievous results in the present case. When neurological abnormalities follow neck or back pain after open heart surgery, SSEH must be considered in the differential diagnosis. Further, if it is suspected, early cervical computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging and surgery should be considered.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Iwate Medical University Memorial Heart Center, 19-1 Uchimaru, Morioka, 020-8505, Iwate, Japan

    Hajime Kin, Masayuki Mukaida, Junichi Koizumi, Takeshi Kamada, Yoshino Mitsunaga, Tomoyuki Iwase, Akio Ikai & Hitoshi Okabayashi

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  1. Hajime Kin
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  2. Masayuki Mukaida
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  3. Junichi Koizumi
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  4. Takeshi Kamada
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  5. Yoshino Mitsunaga
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  6. Tomoyuki Iwase
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  7. Akio Ikai
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  8. Hitoshi Okabayashi
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Correspondence to Hajime Kin.

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Kin, H., Mukaida, M., Koizumi, J. et al. Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma presenting as paraplegia after cardiac surgery. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 64, 153–155 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0401-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11748-014-0401-2

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