Spontaneous spinal subdural haematoma during general anaesthesia.

Spontaneous spinal subdural haematoma causing acute spinal cord compression is a well recognized condition and often responds well to early surgical intervention. In the elderly, the haematoma usually occurs as a result of minor trauma or atherosclerosis with hypertension. We present in this report the history of a patient who became paraplegic during a general anaesthetic for an operation for removal of a ureteral calculus. Rupture of a spinal vascular malformation was found to be responsible for the subdural haematoma, which remained undiagnosed until surgical exploration.