Subarachnoid hematoma after spinal anesthesia: A case report

ABSTRACT

Spinal subarachnoid hematoma is a very rare complication of spinal anesthesia. This complication can, and is, often overlooked and dismissed as a fatal neurological consequence of (what amounts to) delayed diagnosis. In this case, a 59-year-old female patient with no specific medical history underwent right knee arthroscopy under spinal anesthesia. The arthroscopic surgery concluded without complications but, on the first postoperative day, the patient complained of lower back pain, headache, nausea, vomiting. On the fifth postoperative day, magnetic resonance imaging was taken and it revealed evidence of a subarachnoid hematoma involving the L3 and L4 vertebral levels. Hematoma evacuation was performed, and the patient recovered without sequelae. Here, we report this case that lumbar spinal subarachnoid hematoma was found five days after spinal anesthesia which was done in a patient without coagulopathy.