Anterior spinal artery syndrome after thoracic surgery.
Spinal cord infarction is a rare complication following thoracic surgery. We present a case who developed paraplegia on the first postoperative day of thoracotomy. A 76-year-old man with a history of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease was operated for bronchial carcinoma. An epidural infusion of ropivacaine and sufentanil was used for postoperative pain. Eight hours after the surgery, he had an episode of hypotension and respiratory depression. One hour later, he described paraplegia and Ischemia of the spinal cord was found on MRI. There was no recovery during the follow-up.
Tuncel
Gonca
G
Department of Anesthesiology, Ankara Oncology Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. goncatuncel@hotmail.com
Ozalp
Gülçin
G
Canoler
Oozgür
O
Cakmak
Hüseyin
H
Ergeneci
Altan
A
Kadiogullari
Nihal
N
D000368:Aged; D020759:Anterior Spinal Artery Syndrome / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013908:Thoracotomy / Q000009:adverse effects*