Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Manifested by Transient Spinal Cord Ischemia: a Case Report

Abstract

We report an extremely rare case of an abdominal aortic aneurysm with transient spinal cord ischemia. A 64-year-old male patient presented with a sudden onset of paralysis upon waking up. He was admitted to the emergency department with bilateral lower extremity paralysis. Computed tomography and ultrasonography were performed, and the findings revealed an aneurysmal dilatation. The maximum aneurysm diameter was 65×62 mm. In addition, there was a mural thrombus that was located on the posterior aspect of the wall of the aneurysmal dilatation, and part of the mural thrombus was liquefied. After admission to the hospital, although the symptoms of spinal cord ischemia began to improve, melena was observed the following day. He was subsequently diagnosed with ischemic colitis by an emergency colonoscopy. The mural thrombus had dispersed into the lumbar and internal iliac arteries, and it was postulated that this had been the cause of the spinal cord ischemia and ischemic colitis. Due to an improvement in the spinal cord ischemia and ischemic colitis, he underwent abdominal aortic replacement two weeks later. Spinal cord ischemia and ischemic colitis resolved without recurrence, and he was discharged 13 days post-operatively.