Introduction: Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma (SSEH) is a rare condition that can potentially cause paraplegia. SSEH has an increasing incidence rate and its cause remains unclear. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results shows that SSEH presents a spinal epidural space-occupying lesion; therefore, emergency surgical treatment is required in some cases. MRI results of most SSEH cases showed that hematoma occurs in the dorsal or lateral side. By contrast, hematoma in the ventral side is very rarely shown.
Case presentation: A 42-year-old healthy woman developed a sudden onset of severe neck pain with mild limb weakness, gradual breathing difficulty, and high paraplegia. MRI results revealed that an SSEH was compressing her spinal cord in the ventral epidural space from C2 to T3. Upon admission, she received emergency decompressive laminectomy in a posterior approach from C3 to T1, and the epidural hematoma was evacuated through full incision of the dorsal side dural, release of cerebrospinal fluid, and intermittent incision of the ventral side dural. The symptoms of limb paralysis and breathing distress gradually improved after recover rehabilitation, and the patient was discharged with life self-care after 2 months.
Conclusions: Performing early decompressive laminectomy and evacuation of hematoma on severe SSEH patients improves neurological outcomes. For patients with ventral side SSEH, the cerebrospinal fluid should be released after the incision on the dorsal side dural, and the ventral side dural should be gradually as well as intermittently clipped to evacuate the hematoma. The patient would also receive a good prognosis after the total release of the spinal cord compression.
Keywords: Cervical; Decompressive laminectomy; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Spinal Epidural Hematoma; Thoracic.