The treatment of spinal cord ischemia following thoracic endovascular aortic repair.
BACKGROUND
Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) is a promising alternative to the traditional open surgical approach, though spinal cord ischemia remains a challenging complication. Spinal cord ischemia has been treated using lumbar cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) drainage.


METHODS
We report a case of delayed spinal cord ischemia that was successfully treated with vasopressor therapy alone, supporting aggressive blood pressure augmentation as a primary intervention to increase spinal cord perfusion.


RESULTS
The pathophysiology of spinal cord ischemia after TEVAR is presented along with our treatment protocol.
McGarvey
Michael L
ML
Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4283, USA. mlmcgarv@mail.med.upenn.edu
Mullen
Michael T
MT
Woo
Edward Y
EY
Bavaria
Joseph E
JE
Augoustides
Yanni G
YG
Messé
Steven R
SR
Cheung
Albert T
AT
D000328:Adult; D017545:Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D011184:Postoperative Period; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects*; D020760:Spinal Cord Ischemia / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*