Acute Paraplegia as a Presentation of Aortic Saddle Embolism

Background. Acute onset paraplegia has a myriad of causes most often of a nonvascular origin. Vascular etiologies are infrequent causes and most often associated with postsurgical complications. Objective. To describe the occurrence and possible mechanism for aortic saddle embolism as a rare cause of acute paraplegia. Case Report. Described is a case of a 46-year-old female who presented with the sudden onset of nontraumatic low back pain with rapidly progressive paraplegia which was subsequently determined to be of vascular origin.