Spinal Cord Infarction Caused by Non-dissected and Unruptured Thoracoabdominal Aortic Aneurysm with Intraluminal Thrombus

Abstract

Spinal cord infarction, especially anterior spinal artery syndrome, is a relatively rare disease. We report a case of spinal cord infarction caused by thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm with intraluminal thrombus. A 52-year-old man presented with sudden onset paraplegia. At first, he was diagnosed with cervical myelopathy due to a C6-7 herniated intervertebral disc, and had an operation for C6-7 discetomy and anterior interbody fusion. Approximately 1 month after the operation, he was transferred to the department of rehabilitation in our hospital. Thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm with intraluminal thrombus was found incidentally on an enhanced computed tomography scan, and high signal intensities were detected at the anterior horns of gray matter from the T8 to cauda equina level on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. There was no evidence of aortic rupture, dissection, or complete occlusion of the aorta. We diagnosed his case as a spinal cord infarction caused by thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm with intraluminal thrombus.