Spontaneous cervical epidural hematoma (SCEH), which is a rare disease, is manifested as by a sudden quadriplegia or paraplegia and other neurological deficits. SCEH can compress the spinal cord resulting in its clinical manifestations. The reported etiological risk factors are anticoagulants, coagulopathies, vascular malformations, infections, and herniated discs. Here, we report a 77-year-old woman with a presenting chief complaint of left hemiparesis and a history of hypertension. The medical drugs in use were aspirin and antihypertensives. The initiating presentations were hemiparesis, in favor of ischemic stroke, so the patient admitted to neurology ward and received anticoagulant therapy with the initial diagnosis of stroke. Although clinical manifestations and examinations are important in these patients due to mimicking stroke picture, imaging evaluation is paramount for a definite diagnosis, which in our case showed a SCEH, who was suspected to have an ischemic stroke during the initial assessment because its initial demonstration mimicked ischemic stroke. This patient underwent laminectomy after 3 days and showed a clinical recovery the day after. Her muscle strength improved gradually, and neurological symptoms were diminished after physiotherapy.
Background and Aim: Surgical site infection is an important complication after spinal surgery. Prevention and treatment of this complication requires more and reliable information. In this article, we investigated the epidemiology, pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of post-operative infection in spine procedures by reviewing previous related studies. Methods and Materials/Patients: In this paper, original articles available in PubMed and Scopus published between 1991 and 2017 were reviewed and studied. Results: Organisms resistant to antibiotics have increased and made treatment harder, especially in patients with instrumentation of spine. The frequency of surgical site infection depends on surgical technique, anatomical location, and duration of surgery. Conclusion: Prevention is the best way to reduce the frequency of post-spinal surgical infection. Excessive use of antibiotics increases the risk of infection with bacteria resistant to treatment.
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