Annales françaises d'anesthèsie et de rèanimation
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Ann Fr Anesth Reanim · May 2007
Case Reports[Spontaneous spinal epidural haematoma during pregnancy].
Spontaneous spinal epidural haematomas are quite rare. We report here the case of a 27-year-old woman, without previous history of relevant medical disorder, who presented with acute paraplegia at 36 weeks of gestation. MRI performed in emergency revealed a T8 epidural haematoma. ⋯ Spontaneous spinal epidural haematomas require a prompt diagnosis because neurologic prognosis essentially depends on the interval of time between onset of symptoms and surgical decompression. Obstetrical management especially depends on the term of pregnancy. For the anaesthesiologist, the difficulty is the management of both pregnant condition (full stomach general anaesthesia) and spinal cord compression (maintenance of spinal cord perfusion pression and limitation of ischaemia and oedema).