DOI: 10.36347/sjmcr.2016.v04i04.016

Pages: 235-238

Postoperative paraplegia resulting from spinal cord ischemia is a devastating complication of thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair. In that, various methods had been tried to prevent postoperative spinal cord ischemia. Crawford type I, II thoracoabdominal aneurysm has a high-risk of postoperative paraplegia and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage during surgery reduces this risk. Despite the benefits of CSF drainage, inserting CSF drainage catheter in patients with severe scoliosis has technical difficulties and may lead to major complications due to spinal deformity. For patients with severe scoliosis, the fluoroscopy and ultrasound image can be useful during CSF drainage catheter insertion. We report of a case of cerebrospinal fluid drainage using C-arm to prevent spinal cord injury in a patient with severe scoliosis undergoing thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm repair. We have had a successful insertion of CSF drainage catheter without any technical difficulties and complications. The patient was discharged without any postoperative neurological symptoms.