Spinal Cord Injury by Direct Damage During CT-Guided C7 Transforaminal Epidural Steroid Injection

We report the first case of iatrogenic spinal cord injury during a CT-guided cervical TFESI. A 67-year-old woman, upon receiving TFESI on Lt. C7, experienced an electrical shock-like sensation throughout the body. The patient complained of weakness in the left upper and lower extremities (manual muscle testing grade: 2–4) and neuropathic pain (numeric rating scale: 9) in the left upper and lower extremities. Cervical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) performed 9 days after TFESI showed a high T2 signal at the left side of the spinal cord from levels C5 to C7, and an electrophysiological study performed 14 days after TFESI revealed corresponding findings with cervical MRI. Three months after finishing treatment with a high dose of intravenous methylprednisolone, the patient’s motor weakness improved, but it did not recover fully.
Source: American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation - Category: Rehabilitation Tags: Case Report Source Type: research