Timing of surgery for spinal venous malformation—early vs. delayed: A case report and literature review

Abstract

Spinal venous malformations are vascular malformations of the central nervous system. Progressive or sudden neurological deficits can result in the deterioration of the quality of life, owing to the nature of the disease. Surgery is recommended after 2–6 weeks in patients with acute symptoms, to facilitate better surgical planning. Steroids are administered during the preoperative planning and rehabilitation period. However, the patient reported in this study developed a perforated peptic ulcer 1 week after surgery and died due to sepsis. Therefore, we questioned the optimum time for surgery, i.e., we considered whether early or delayed surgery would result in better patient outcomes.

Keywords

• Cavernous hemangiomas
• Spinal venous malformation
• Intramedullary spinal cord tumor
• Timing of surgery
• Vascular malformation