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Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review

Spinal cord haematoma, or haematomyelia, is a rare condition caused by several unusual disease processes. Traumatic events, such as spinal cord injury and surgery or procedures involving the spinal cord, are the most important causes of spinal cord haematoma. Rarely, it is associated with anticoagul...

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Autores principales: Gomes, Patrícia A., Cernadas, Eduardo, Sá, Juliana, Brito, Helena, Costa, Ricardo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SMC Media Srl 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6346978/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30755993
http://dx.doi.org/10.12890/2018_000887
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author Gomes, Patrícia A.
Cernadas, Eduardo
Sá, Juliana
Brito, Helena
Costa, Ricardo
author_facet Gomes, Patrícia A.
Cernadas, Eduardo
Sá, Juliana
Brito, Helena
Costa, Ricardo
author_sort Gomes, Patrícia A.
collection PubMed
description Spinal cord haematoma, or haematomyelia, is a rare condition caused by several unusual disease processes. Traumatic events, such as spinal cord injury and surgery or procedures involving the spinal cord, are the most important causes of spinal cord haematoma. Rarely, it is associated with anticoagulation therapy. Irrespective of cause, spinal cord haematoma is considered a neurosurgical emergency and must be treated promptly in order to prevent neurological sequelae. The authors describe the case of a 69-year-old patient taking warfarin in the therapeutic range for a mechanic mitral valve, who developed chest pain with cervical and dorsal radiation, and experienced sudden paraparesis of the limbs. A CT of the spine confirmed haematomyelia. A high index of suspicion, prompt recognition and immediate intervention are essential to prevent major morbidity and mortality from intraspinal haemorrhage. LEARNING POINTS: This article reports an unusual presentation of spontaneous spinal haematoma, imposing the careful elaboration of differential diagnoses, which is very important in internal medicine. The description of this low-incidence case allows the scientific community to assist in approaching patients with similar symptoms. The lack of studies about the etiology and treatment of spontaneous spinal haematoma underlines the need for further studies and research in the area in order to increase the scientific evidence on the approach of these patients.
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spelling pubmed-63469782019-02-12 Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review Gomes, Patrícia A. Cernadas, Eduardo Sá, Juliana Brito, Helena Costa, Ricardo Eur J Case Rep Intern Med Articles Spinal cord haematoma, or haematomyelia, is a rare condition caused by several unusual disease processes. Traumatic events, such as spinal cord injury and surgery or procedures involving the spinal cord, are the most important causes of spinal cord haematoma. Rarely, it is associated with anticoagulation therapy. Irrespective of cause, spinal cord haematoma is considered a neurosurgical emergency and must be treated promptly in order to prevent neurological sequelae. The authors describe the case of a 69-year-old patient taking warfarin in the therapeutic range for a mechanic mitral valve, who developed chest pain with cervical and dorsal radiation, and experienced sudden paraparesis of the limbs. A CT of the spine confirmed haematomyelia. A high index of suspicion, prompt recognition and immediate intervention are essential to prevent major morbidity and mortality from intraspinal haemorrhage. LEARNING POINTS: This article reports an unusual presentation of spontaneous spinal haematoma, imposing the careful elaboration of differential diagnoses, which is very important in internal medicine. The description of this low-incidence case allows the scientific community to assist in approaching patients with similar symptoms. The lack of studies about the etiology and treatment of spontaneous spinal haematoma underlines the need for further studies and research in the area in order to increase the scientific evidence on the approach of these patients. SMC Media Srl 2018-12-27 /pmc/articles/PMC6346978/ /pubmed/30755993 http://dx.doi.org/10.12890/2018_000887 Text en © EFIM 2018 This article is licensed under a Commons Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
spellingShingle Articles
Gomes, Patrícia A.
Cernadas, Eduardo
Sá, Juliana
Brito, Helena
Costa, Ricardo
Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title_full Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title_fullStr Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title_full_unstemmed Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title_short Spontaneous Spinal Haemorrhage as a Complication of Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: A Case Report and Literature Review
title_sort spontaneous spinal haemorrhage as a complication of oral anticoagulant therapy: a case report and literature review
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6346978/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30755993
http://dx.doi.org/10.12890/2018_000887
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