Lee SB et al, 2012: Thoracic spinal cord epidural hematoma after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy
Lee SB, Lee TG, Yoo DS, Huh PW, Cho KS
Department of Neurosurgery, Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine, Uijeongbu, Korea
Abstract
Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a well-established, safe, and effective therapeutic alternative to surgical treatment for urolithiasis. Complications of ESWL do occur in a small number of patients, and when they do, they typically involve the kidney. Formation of a spinal epidural hematoma is an extremely rare complication after ESWL for kidney stone removal. The authors present the case of a 61-year-old man in whom a large spinal epidural hematoma developed after ESWL. They discuss the possible pathogenic mechanism of such a complication.
J Neurosurg Spine. 2012 Feb;16(2):127-9. doi: 10.3171/2011.10.SPINE11236. Epub 2011 Nov 25
PMID:22117141[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Comments 1
This is obviously the first report on a spinal cord epidural hematoma after extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy. It seems that this is not a complication of SWL but the complication of an improper use of SWL as the authors state: " Our patient had several risk factors such as hypertension and misdirection of the ultrasound field to the spinal cord that predisposed him to epidural vessel rupture, which led to a spinal epidural hematoma after ESWL."
Peter Alken