Complications corner: Anterior thoracic disc surgery with dural tear/CSF fistula and low-pressure pleural drain led to severe intracranial hypotension

BACKGROUND: Thoracic disc surgery can lead to a life-threatening complication: intracranial hypotension due to a subarachnoid-pleural fistula. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report a 63-year-old male with paraparesis due to multiple herniated thoracic discs, with compressive myelopathy. The patient required a circumferential procedure including a laminectomy/fusion followed by an anterior thoracic decompression to address both diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) anteriorly and posterior stenosis. The postoperative course was complicated by severe intracranial hypotension attributed to the erroneous placement of a low-pressure drain placed in the pleural cavity instead of a lumbar drain; this resulted in subdural hematoma's necessitating subsequent surgery. CONCLUSION: Severe neurological deterioration occurring after thoracic decompressive surgery may rarely be attributed to intracranial hypotension due to a subarachnoid-pleural fistula. Patients should be treated with external lumbar drainage of cerebrospinal fluid for 3–5 days rather than a low-pressure pleural drain to avoid the onset of intracranial hypotension leading to symptomatic subdural hematomas.