Holospinal epidural abscess

Darryl Lau; John Maa; Praveen V Mummaneni; Dean Chou

doi:10.1016/j.jocn.2013.05.001

Holospinal epidural abscess

J Clin Neurosci. 2014 Mar;21(3):517-20. doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2013.05.001. Epub 2013 Oct 13.

Authors

Darryl Lau¹, John Maa², Praveen V Mummaneni¹, Dean Chou³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0112, San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA.
² Department of Surgery, Division of General Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
³ Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 505 Parnassus Avenue, Box 0112, San Francisco, CA 94143-0112, USA. Electronic address: choud@neurosurg.ucsf.edu.

PMID: 24128769
DOI: 10.1016/j.jocn.2013.05.001

Abstract

Holospinal epidural abscess (HEA) is an extremely rare condition in which spinal epidural abscesses extend from the cervical to the sacral spine. We report two patients who presented with myelopathy secondary to HEA. Both patients underwent urgent surgical decompression and abscess drainage, and had significant improvement in neurological function. We discuss the surgical management strategies and briefly review the literature regarding HEA.

Keywords: Decompression; Epidural abscess; Holospinal; Laminectomy; Spine.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Decompression, Surgical
Epidural Abscess / pathology*
Epidural Abscess / surgery
Humans
Male
Middle Aged