Study design: Case series and review of literature.
Objective: To report three cases of vascular injury during posterior lumbar disc surgery, two of these occurred during open discectomy, and one during an endoscopic surgery. Aim is to highlight importance of early diagnosis and prompt steps taken to prevent morbidity and mortality.
Summary of background data: Vascular injury during lumbar discectomy is rare injury. Also no case has been reported so far occurring during an endoscopic discectomy.
Methods: Three patients were treated for lumbar intervertebral disc prolapse, two had undergone open posterior discectomy while the third patient underwent endoscopic discectomy and all of them were diagnosed to have suffered an abdominal vascular injury.
Results: In two cases pseudo-aneurysm was found while third case was diagnosed as an arterio-venous fistula. All the three cases were managed with endovascular stenting and followed for a minimum period of 2 years. No further complications were detected.
Conclusion: Vascular injury during a disc surgery is difficult to diagnose due to the rarity of occurrence and subtle signs which need to be recognized to start early management.
Level of evidence: 5.