A Case of Postoperative Paraplegia following Elective Surgery for Aneurysm of the Abdominal Aorta

(Department of Cardiovascular Surgery* and Department of Critical Care**, Mitsui Memorial Hospital, Tokyo, Japan)
Sachito Fukuda*.** Ikutaro Kigawa* Yujiro Miura*
Takeshi Miyairi*
This report documents two rare cases we encountered in which paraplegia developed as a postoperative complication following elective operations for an unruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). Case1: A 80-year-old man receiving dialysis therapy was found to have 75% occlusion of the left anterior descending branch by preoperative coronary arteriography but, as the cardiac function was satisfactory, replacement of the aneurysm with a tube graft was performed through a retroperitoneal approach for treatment of the AAA. Symptoms of paraplegia developed immediately following the operation and a diagnosis of anterior spinal artery syndrome was made based on the postoperative MRI findings. Case 2: A 62-year-old man underwent a coronary artery bypass operation (3 sites in 2 branches) using the bilateral internal thoracic artery with the breast beating prior to elective surgery for an unruptured AAA, and subsequently underwent an aneurysm replacement with a Y-graft through a midline incision. At the same time, the celiac artery and superior mesenteric artery cure found to be stenotic at their roots were also bypassed via vascular prostheses to the right arm of the Y-graft. Paraplegia was evident after emerging from anesthesia. In both cases, there were complicating coronary arterial lesions and significant atherosclerotic changes in the thoracic descending aorta. A CT scan demonstrated an artery coursing from the iliolumbar artery, a branch of the internal iliac artery, to the spinal cord in Case 2, indicating that intraoperative clamping of the internal iliac artery might have caused the paraplegia. In patients with marked arteriosclerosis of the thoracic descending aorta, there is the possibility of occlusion of spinal root arteries originating from that affected region. Blood supply to the spinal cord via a collateral vascular route is important in such cases.
　Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 37: 201-204 (2008)