%0 Journal Article
%T Complete motor recovery after acute paraparesis caused by spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma: case report
%A Leandro U Taniguchi
%A Felix H Pahl
%A Jos¨¦ ED L¨˛cio
%A Roger S Brock
%A Marcos QT Gomes
%A Tarso Adoni
%A Victor CC Fiorini
%A Rodrigo C Carvalho
%A Eli F Evaristo
%A Eduardo G Mutarelli
%A Guilherme Schettino
%J BMC Emergency Medicine
%D 2011
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-227x-11-10
%X We report a 34-year-old man with a 2-hour history of sudden severe back pain, followed by weakness and numbness over the bilateral lower limbs, progressing to intense paraparesis and anesthesia. A spinal magnetic resonance imaging scan was performed and revealed an anterior epidural hematoma of the thoracic spine. He underwent an emergency decompression laminectomy of the thoracic spine and hematoma evacuation. Just after surgery, his lower extremity movements improved. After 1 week, there was no residual weakness and ambulation without assistance was resumed, with residual paresthesia on the plantar face of both feet. After 5 months, no residual symptoms persisted.The diagnosis of spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma must be kept in mind in cases of sudden back pain with symptoms of spinal cord compression. Early recognition, accurate diagnosis and prompt surgical treatment may result in significant improvement even in severe cases.Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) is a rare cause of back pain in the emergency department (estimated incidence of approximately 0.1 per 100,000 patients per year [1]) but one that carries high morbidity. The classic clinical presentation is acute onset of severe, often radiating, back pain followed by signs and symptoms of nerve root and/or spinal cord compression, which develops minutes to days later [2-4]. The true etiology of SSEH remains unknown, but associations with some predisposing conditions, such as coagulopathies, blood dyscrasias and arteriovenous malformation, have been reported [5,6]. Although there are occasional reports of nonoperative treatments, timely surgical extirpation of the epidural clot remains the standard management [7].This article presents a previously healthy young man who was admitted to the emergency department with back pain and symptoms of spinal cord compression caused by SSEH, in whom prompt surgical treatment prevented definitive neurological sequelae.A 34-year-old man presented to the emer
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-227X/11/10