Multiple intracranial hemorrhages after cervical spinal surgery

Abstract

A 69-year-old woman presented with a rare case of multiple supra- and infratentorial intracranial hemorrhages after cervical laminoplasty for cervical spondylotic myelopathy without intraoperative liquorrhea. A wound drainage tube under negative pressure was placed with subsequent 380 ml of drainage in the first 12 hours. She had no complaint of headache and nausea at that time. Computed tomography of the brain obtained at 15 hours after surgery demonstrated cerebellar hemorrhage, acute subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, supratentorial intraparenchymal hemorrhage, and pneumocephalus. She was treated medically without consequent neurological deficits other than right hemianopsia. Overdrainage of cerebrospinal fluid through an occult dural tear might cause severely low intracranial pressure with subsequent multiple intracranial hemorrhages. Wound drainage should be controlled thoroughly even in patients without intraoperative liquorrhea.