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Oxidised regenerated cellulose as a cause of paraplegia after thoracotomy: case report and review of the literature.

Dogan S, Kocaeli H, Doygun M

Department of Neurosurgery, School of Medicine, Uludağ University, Bursa, Turkey.

STUDY DESIGN: Case report. OBJECTIVE: To report an unusual case of paraplegia. SETTING: University Hospital Bursa, Turkey. CASE REPORT: A 22-year-old woman presented with paraplegia following a left-sided thoracotomy. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a dorsal epidural mass at the level of T6. The patient underwent an emergency T6/7 laminectomy and removal of a tuft of oxidised regenerated cellulose, which had migrated through the intervertebral foramen causing spinal cord compression. CONCLUSION: In cases of neurological deficits after surgery at the posterolateral edge of a thoracotomy, the clinician should be aware of the above possibility. Urgent radiological diagnosis and decompressive laminectomy is the treatment of choice.

Published 4 July 2005 in Spinal Cord, 43(7): 445-7.
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