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- Title
Intracranial complications associated with spinal surgery.
- Authors
Pham, Martin; Tuchman, Alexander; Platt, Andrew; Hsieh, Patrick; Pham, Martin H; Hsieh, Patrick C
- Abstract
<bold>Purpose: </bold>Though rare, intracranial complications have been reported as a result from spinal surgery. Most if not all of these are a result of intracranial hypotension from durotomy and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. We aimed to characterize these complications across a large postoperative population at our institution.<bold>Methods: </bold>We conducted a retrospective review of all patients who underwent spinal surgery at our institution by four neurosurgeons from July 2008 to August 2013.<bold>Results: </bold>Our review yielded 1113 consecutive patients who underwent spinal surgery for a total of 1396 procedures. Intracranial imaging using either computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging was obtained on 59 (4.2%) patients after a procedure due to neurologic change. Six patients (0.4%) were found to have intracranial findings of subdural hygroma (4 patients), remote cerebellar hemorrhage (1 patient), or subdural hematoma (1 patient).<bold>Conclusion: </bold>Intracranial complications from spinal surgery are a rare event. We demonstrate an incidence of 0.4% of total intracranial pathology after spinal surgery. A strong clinical suspicion must be maintained after durotomy or CSF leak due to these infrequent but potentially life-threatening complications.
- Subjects
SPINAL surgery; CEREBROSPINAL fluid; INTRACRANIAL pressure; DISEASE complications; PATHOLOGY
- Publication
European Spine Journal, 2016, Vol 25, Issue 3, p888
- ISSN
0940-6719
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1007/s00586-015-4241-2