Gupta Aditya, Dhawan Ira, Singh Aakashdeep, Kumar Vishal, Dhatt Sarvdeep Singh
Department of Orthopaedics, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India.
J Orthop Case Rep. 2025 May;15(5):80-84. doi: 10.13107/jocr.2025.v15.i05.5564.
Phrenic nerve palsy is a rare but potentially serious complication. The clinical presentation can vary from being asymptomatic to severe respiratory distress requiring mechanical complication. In the Anglophone literature, there is only a single case report of bilateral phrenic nerve injury as a complication following anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF).
This case report describes a 52-year-old female who developed right-sided phrenic nerve palsy after undergoing ACDF for cervical spine trauma. The patient had respiratory distress immediately after surgery and Ultrasonography and X-rays revealed Rt phrenic nerve palsy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of unilateral phrenic nerve palsy after ACDF at the C5-C6 level.
Unilateral phrenic nerve palsy probably occurred as a complication of ACDF for cervical spine trauma. Phrenic nerve palsy should be kept in mind as a serious complication of spinal surgery.
膈神经麻痹是一种罕见但可能严重的并发症。临床表现差异很大，从无症状到需要机械通气的严重呼吸窘迫。在英语文献中，仅有一例双侧膈神经损伤作为颈椎前路椎间盘切除融合术（ACDF）后并发症的病例报告。
本病例报告描述了一名52岁女性，因颈椎创伤接受ACDF后发生右侧膈神经麻痹。患者术后立即出现呼吸窘迫，超声和X线检查显示右侧膈神经麻痹。据我们所知，这是C5-C6节段ACDF术后单侧膈神经麻痹的首例病例。
单侧膈神经麻痹可能是颈椎创伤ACDF术后的并发症。膈神经麻痹应作为脊柱手术的严重并发症予以重视。
