Case 5-1991

Presentation of CaseA 61-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital after the abrupt onset of paraplegia.The patient was well until about four months earlier, when she began to experience occasional episodes of mild lumbar pain that came on when she was standing, was relieved when she sat down, and did not interfere with her customary activities. She was otherwise well until three weeks before admission, when lumbar pain developed on her return home from shopping for groceries; the pain resolved soon after she sat down, but a pins-and-needles sensation occurred in the buttocks and rectal region, with numbness . . .