Spinal epidural hematoma. Report of a case and review of the literature.

We report the case of a thoracic epidural hematoma at the T7-T9 level which occurred after placement of spinal epidural catheter for continuous anaesthesia in acute pancreatitis. The male patient felt a sudden back pain after six days of successful analgesia and became paraplegic 24 hours afterwards. An emergency laminectomy and removal of the hematoma were performed; however, the patient recovered only incompletely. We discuss the clinical signs and symptoms of spinal epidural hematoma as well as its diagnostics and therapy. The controversial views from the literature concernings its etiology are critically reviewed.