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The surgical treatment for thoracic and thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysms still remains a challenge for the surgeon, as it can be complicated by paraplegia. Several techniques were developed in order to decrease the risk of paraplegia. We describe a surgical variation of the 'clamp and sew' technique, named 'Quick simple clamping' technique, that we adopted starting in 1995. In our experience,...

Management of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAA) can lead to spinal cord injury. A variety of clinical adjuncts have proven to decrease the incidence of paraplegia; however, at least 10% patients remain at risk of developing paraplegia. Experimentally and in sporadic clinical experiences, the staged repair of TAAs can lead to better neurologic outcomes. We present two clinical cases with e...

Spinal cord compression due to extramedullary hematopoiesis is a well-known complication in a number of hematological diseases. Most of the patients present with progressive paraparesis due to the slow expansion of the extramedullary hematopoietic tissue. The authors report a case of chronic myeloproliferative disorder with spinal extramedullary hematopoiesis presenting with acute paraplegia. C...

Paraplegia is a tragic complication of surgery of the descending aorta. It is unpredictable and occurs with a similar incidence with or without distal circulatory support. Hypotension, prolonged aortic cross clamp time, and ligation of intercostal arteries have been considered causative factors. Recent experience with ten consecutive patients undergoing descending aortic surgery without shunts ...

Two cases of necrotizing myelopathy, one with lung carcinoma and the other with adult T cell leukemia (ATL), displayed flaccid paraplegia and sphincter dysfunction. Both cases did not show any direct neoplastic cell invasion of the spinal cord. Pathologically, diffuse and random necrosis was found in the spinal cord in both cases. In the case of ATL, small numbers of inclusion bodies in the ner...

A retrospective study of all 100 cases of non-traumatic(medical) paraplegia admitted to a large hospital innorthern Tanzania over aneight-year period was under-taken; 15 of thepatients wereexamined. Patients' agesrangedfrom 2 to80 years(mean 31), and 67 weremale.Seventy-one lived under 85 km (53 miles) from thehospital, and the average period ...

The syndrome of severe wasting, opisthotonus and paraplegia in flexion associated with considerable hydrocephalus is well known to those treating advanced cases of tuberculous meningitis. Once such a condition has developed, the outlook is generally poor. Many patients will die and the survivors will often be handicapped by a variety of physical and mental sequelae. The purpose of this paper is...