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Abstract
Background Paraplegia is a rare complication of spinal anesthesia.
Case presentation We report a case of a 68-year-old man who developed postoperative paraplegia and hypoesthesia after spinal anesthesia for an otherwise uncomplicated transurethral resection of the prostate. Acute transverse myelitis was diagnosed based on urgent MRI. A prior history of similar though less severe neurological symptoms after obinutuzumab treatment for follicular lymphoma suggested a potential causative role for obinutuzumab, a novel monoclonal antibody that has not been associated with such devastating neurological side effects yet. High-dose steroid treatment partially attenuated the symptoms, but debilitating hypoesthesia and motor deficit remained present 3 months postoperatively.
Conclusion The presented case warrants caution when performing neuraxial anesthesia in patients on monoclonal antibody therapies.
- injections
- spinal
- drug-related side effects and adverse reactions
- neurotoxicity syndromes
- postoperative complications
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Footnotes
Contributors AH: This author contributed to the conception and authorship of the article. LVD: This author contributed to the conception and authorship of the article. IL: This author contributed to the clinical care and authorship of the article. LD: This author contributed to the clinical care and authorship of the article. PBCVdP: This author contributed to the conception and authorship of the article.
Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.