A 68-year-old man with symptoms of back and left anterior chest pain was diagnosed with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and underwent coronary angiography, which showed 99% stenosis in the diagonal artery. After administering dual antiplatelet therapy, the lesion was successfully treated with a drug-eluting stent. On the day following the procedure, he developed left upper extremity paresthesia with persistent back pain, which was diagnosed as spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma by magnetic resonance imaging. Urgent surgical decompression was performed, leading to a complete resolution of the neurological symptoms. This case describes the difficulties in making a diagnosis and the necessity of performing immediate management.
Katagiri et al. (Wed,) studied this question.