We report a case of a 44-year-old patient with paralysis of the left leg who had a thoracic epidural catheterization after general anesthesia for abdominal surgery. Sensory losses below T10 and motor weakness of the left leg occurred after the surgery. Magnetic resonance image study demonstrated a well-defined intramedullary linear high signal intensity lesion on T2-weighted image and low-signal intensity on T1-weighted image in the spinal cord between T9 and L1 vertebral level, and enhancements of the spinal cord below T8 vertebra and in the cauda equina. Electrodiagnostic examination revealed lumbosacral polyradiculopathy affecting nerve roots below L4 level on left side. We suggest that the intrinsic spinal cord lesion and nerve root lesion can be caused by an epidural catheterization with subsequent local anesthetic injection.

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by  

• Continuous epidural catheter for anaesthesia management and post-op pain relief in colorectal surgery, complicated by epidural haematoma and bilateral paraplegia: A case report
  Mohammad Ashouri, Kasra Karvandian, Zahra Ataie-Ashtiani, Narjes Mohammadzadeh
  International Journal of Surgery Case Reports.2021; 83: 106039.     CrossRef
• Role of Thoracic Epidural Analgesia for Thoracic Surgery and Its Perioperative Effects
  Mohamed R. El-Tahan
  Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia.2017; 31(4): 1417.     CrossRef
• Acute transverse myelitis arising after combined general and thoracic epidural anesthesia
  Tetsuya Shimada, Shinya Yufune, Motoshi Tanaka, Ryosuke Akai, Yasushi Satoh, Tomiei Kazama
  JA Clinical Reports.2015;[Epub]     CrossRef