title: Holospinal epidural abscess.
abstract: Holospinal epidural abscess (HEA) is an extremely rare condition in which spinal epidural abscesses extend from the cervical to the sacral spine. We report two patients who presented with myelopathy secondary to HEA. Both patients underwent urgent surgical decompression and abscess drainage, and had significant improvement in neurological function. We discuss the surgical management strategies and briefly review the literature regarding HEA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0112, San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA.
authors.forename: Darryl
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lau
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Maa
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0112, San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA.
authors.forename: Praveen V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Mummaneni
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0112, San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA. Electronic address: choud@neurosurg.ucsf.edu.
authors.forename: Dean
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D019299:Decompression, Surgical; D020802:Epidural Abscess / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Decompression; Epidural abscess; Holospinal; Laminectomy; Spine