Acute Paraparesis after Epidural Corticosteroid Injection Revealing Spinal Dural Arteriovenous Fistula in a HIV Patient.

UNLABELLED

Spinal dural arteriovenous fistulas (SDAVFs) are often misdiagnosed as their symptoms are non-specific, leading to treatment delay and a poor outcome. We describe the case of a 53-year-old man with a history of progressive paraparesis that worsened abruptly after an epidural corticosteroid injection. We highlight here the need for high diagnostic suspicion for an SDAVF in patients deteriorating after an epidural injection and an indication of repeated spine imaging in such cases. Finally, this is the first reported case of an SDAVF in a HIV-positive patient and it emphasizes the need for a broad differential diagnosis.

LEARNING POINTS

Consider an SDAVF in cases of slowly progressive paraparesis and hypoaesthesia, especially if symptoms worsen after an epidural injection.The need for an in-depth work-up including repeated angiographic explorations in cases where no malformation is found in a straightforward manner.In a patient infected with HIV, even though a broad range of neuromuscular diseases can be suspected, non-related aetiologies should not be forgotten.