Key result
Aortic coarctation repair causes occult ischemic spinal cord injury via intercostal artery damage.
Why the study?
Injury to the spinal cord with paraplegia is a rare but recognized complication immediately after surgical repair of aortic coarctation, while occult spinal cord injury syndromes may be unrecognized.
Case Report (n=1)
Neuropathic pain syndrome may be an unrecognized manifestation of spinal cord injury following surgical repair of aortic coarctation.
Heightened vigilance for intercostal injury is warranted in redo coarctation repair; extends sparse case literature on paraplegia mechanisms while leaving prevention strategies unresolved.
Injury to the spinal cord injury with paraplegia, is a rare complication of surgical repair of aortic coarctation recognized immediately post-operatively. We present the case of a 41-year-old male undergoing surgery for restenosis at the site of a repair. Intra-operatively, he suffered inadvertent injury to an intercostal arterial branch during isolation of the aorta below the graft. Over the following months, he developed unusual symptoms involving the legs and genitourinary tract which, only after extensive investigations, were attributed to ischemic damage to the spinal cord related to the surgery. We suspect that similar syndromes reflecting injury to the spinal cord injury may be unrecognized following surgical repair of coarctation.
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Beauchesne et al. (2000) conducted a case report in Restenosis of aortic coarctation repair (n=1). Surgical repair of aortic coarctation restenosis was evaluated on Neuropathic pain syndrome due to ischemic spinal cord injury. Surgical repair of aortic coarctation restenosis was complicated by inadvertent intercostal artery injury, leading to an occult ischemic spinal cord injury presenting as neuropathic pain syndrome.
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