Surgical management of spontaneous spinal epidural abscess: Case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Spontaneous spinal epidural abscess is a rare and life-threatening neurological condition that calls for early recognition followed by immediate surgery for decompression within 24 h from the onset of the neurological symptoms, to expect a complete recovery of the patient. When the patient is admitted with a severe neurological deficit, surgery for decompression and accuracy of the diagnosis is required without delay. We report a case of a 34-year-old man who was admitted, with sudden onset of paraplegia complicated within 72 h by cauda equina syndrome on a spontaneous spinal epidural abscess at T11-T12 level. He immediately underwent surgery for the evacuation of the compressive spinal lesion by laminectomy of T11 and T12 and begins to recover from the neurological deficit in the post-operative period. Timely decision-making toward the surgery is the key factor to guaranty a patient’s better outcome for the spontaneous epidural compressive abscess.

Keywords

• Spinal epidural abscess
• Spontaneous compressive spinal abscess
• Paraplegia
• A case report