title: Traumatic subdural hematoma in the lumbar spine.
abstract: Traumatic spinal subdural hematoma is rare and its mechanism remains unclear. This intervention describes a patient with mental retardation who was suffering from back pain and progressive weakness of the lower limbs following a traffic accident. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine revealed a lumbar subdural lesion. Hematoma was identified in the spinal subdural space during an operation. The muscle power of both lower limbs recovered to normal after surgery. The isolated traumatic spinal subdural hematoma was not associated with intracranial subdural hemorrhage. A spinal subdural hematoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of spinal cord compression, especially for patients who have sustained spinal trauma. Emergency surgical decompression is usually the optimal treatment for a spinal subdural hematoma with acute deterioration and severe neurological deficits.
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Taichung Armed Forces General Hospital, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Jenn-Yeu
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Yu-Hao
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Kuang-Chen
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Hung
authors.forename: Ti-Sheng
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006408:Hematoma, Subdural / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D046649:Hematoma, Subdural, Spinal / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D013131:Spine / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery