Exploring Spinal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage: A Neurosurgical Case Series

• Published in: Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2023-09, Vol.15 (9)
• Main Authors: Sankarappan, Kiran, Doucet, Dakota, Daly, Samuel R, Nguyen, Anthony V, Garrett, David, Lesley, Walter S, Feng, Dongxia, Vance, Awais Z, Huang, Jason H
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catheters; Cysts; Emergency medical care; Etiology; Hematoma; Hemorrhage; Hospitals; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Neck; Neurology; Neurosurgery; Pathology; Patients; Radiology; Spinal cord; Stroke; Sutures; Urinary retention
• ISSN: 2168-8184; 2168-8184
• DOI: 10.7759/cureus.45627

Spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SSAH) is a rare condition that can cause spinal cord or nerve root compression and permanent neurologic damage. The reported etiologies include trauma, vascular malformations or aneurysms, coagulopathies, neoplasms, autoimmune disease, and spontaneous hemorrhage. If there is evidence of neurologic deterioration, it is commonly managed as a surgical emergency, but cases of conservative management have also been reported. In this case series, we present three patients who suffered from SSAH. The first was a spontaneous cervical SSAH that occurred following cardiac catheterization, the second was a spontaneous thoracolumbar SSAH in a patient with a known history of coagulopathy, and the third was a thoracolumbar SSAH that was caused by a dural arteriovenous fistula (dAVF). All three patients exhibited neurologic deficits and thus underwent emergent decompression and hematoma evacuation. The patient with the dAVF also required open ligation of the fistula. Following surgical intervention, all three patients regained at least partial neurologic function, but one patient developed symptomatic arachnoid cysts that required further intervention. The presented case series highlights the importance and time-sensitivity of surgical decompression in patients experiencing neurologic deficits from SSAH. These cases underscore the urgency of timely neurosurgical intervention to mitigate neurologic impairment and add insights to the existing literature on this rare condition.