Anterior Spinal Cord Syndrome Following Eidural Block.

Kim, Jae Joong; Park, Chong Oon; Kim, Young; Ha, Young Soo; Chung, Choon Kun

Original Article

Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society 1993;22(4): 598-603.

Jae Joong Kim, Chong Oon Park, Young Kim, Young Soo Ha, Choon Kun Chung

¹Department of Neurosurgery, Inha Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Sung Nam, Korea.
²Department of Anesthesiology, Inha Hospital, College of Medicine, Inha University, Sung Nam, Korea.

ABSTRACT

This article report the case of a woman who developed an anterior spinal cord syndrome following epidural block. 10ml of 0.125% bupivacaine and 40mg of triamcinolone were injected epidurally for relief of back pain and radiating pain along the posterolateral aspect of right leg. Within 2 hours, the patient complained of weakness and severe pain in both lower extremities and rapidly became paraplegia. Myelography showed no obstruction and compression. Gd-enhanced sagittal and axial image of thoracic spine shows somewhat inhimogenous at the level of T9 on MRI. The paraplegia was permanent in the left leg and the right leg was slightly improved but grade I. We note a number of potential etiologies and analyze their possible mechanism of action.

Key Words: Anterior spinal cord syndrome; Epidural block; C-T MRI