ABSTRACT
We present the case of a 53-year-old man who developed delayed-onset paraplegia after type A dissection repair. He was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of type A dissection, for which we performed total arch replacement. Although the patient started walking on postoperative day 4, on postoperative day 5, he developed lower limb paraplegia without any precipitating episodes. Computed tomography showed that the false lumen was thrombosed in the upper descending thoracic aorta and hypoperfused in the lower descending thoracic aorta. The cerebrospinal fluid was immediately drained to maintain the spinal pressure at 14 cm H<sub>2</sub>O for four days. Although the patient began to move his legs immediately after treatment, he remained paraparetic, and was transferred to another rehabilitation hospital on postoperative day 40.
ABSTRACT
A 73-year-old man who underwent redo aortic valve replacement due to dysfunction of tissue heart valve developed hypoxemia with bilateral infiltrates on frontal chest radiograph and hypotension shortly after his operation. Due to the presence of progressive hypotension and hypoxemia, we inserted an intra-aortic balloon pump and, furthermore, provided percutaneous cardiopulmonary support. We ruled out cardiogenic pulmonary edema based on information from various examinations, including echocardiography, and subsequently diagnosed possible transfusion-related acute lung injury (possible TRALI). The patient was treated by mechanical ventilation and circulatory support under close supervision, showing a trend of improvement from postoperative day 2 and discontinuing mechanical ventilation on postoperative day 11. The patient made an uneventful recovery and was discharged on postoperative day 50. Cardiac surgery patients are at particular risk for TRALI, so physicians should consider TRALI whenever a patient develops hypoxemia during or shortly after transfusion. Rapid diagnosis and appropriate treatment of TRALI are especially important in cardiac surgery patients.