Spinal anaesthesia in a patient with post-spine surgery dural ectasia.

Dural sac ectasia is a very infrequent anatomical abnormality, usually caused by connective tissue diseases, as Marfan syndrome. Very few cases have been described being a consequence of a previous spine surgical procedure. We describe the case of an elderly patient who should be operated on twice due to sub-occlusive colon disease. Surgery was performed under spinal anaesthesia. A dural sac ectasia was suspected after the first procedure and the abdominal X-ray was reviewed. The characteristics of the anatomical alteration and the course of both anaesthetic procedures were described. X-ray and CT images were provided.