Spontaneous spinal cord infarction secondary to embolism from an aortic aneurysm mimicking as cauda equina due to disc prolapse: a case report

Spinal “stroke” is an uncommon cause of paraplegia. Spinal cord infarction from unruptured aortic aneurysm is rare. When encountered it poses diagnostic challenge to the clinician due to its rarity, which may lead to incorrect or delayed diagnosis. We report a case of 62-year-old man presenting to casualty as caudaequina syndrome due to spinal cord infarction secondary to emboli from an infra renal abdominal aortic aneurysm. To the authors knowledge this is first case of its kind and has not been reported in literature. Patient had improvement in proximal motor function following repair of the aneurysm, although he remained doubly incontinent in six months follow up.