Angiographic changes following acute spinal cord compression: an experimental study in monkeys.

Acute paraplegia was produced in monkeys by abruptly inflating a balloon catheter within the epidural space. The arteriographic and epidural venous changes following such trauma were serially evaluated. Spinal-cord arteriograms following cord injury remained normal during an acute (four-hour) follow-up. Serial epidural venograms demonstrated obstruction of epidural veins within four hours at the site of contusion in less than half of the animals studied. Neither spinal arteries nor epidural showed consistent diagnostic changes following trauma due to acute epidural compression.