Spontaneous lumbar subdural haematoma--a case report.

ABSTRACT

Spinal subdural haematomas are a rare cause of spinal cord or cauda equina compression. These are usually seen in association with lumbar puncture or coagulopathy. Spontaneous spinal subdural haematomas are even rarer. This report presents one such case diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) together with a review of the literature. The patient presented with low back pain of acute onset after minimal trauma. MRI showed high signal intensity on both T1-weighted and T2-weighted sequences in the posterior subdural space indicative of a subacute lumbar subdural haematoma. There was no history of bleeding diasthesis. The patient was treated conservatively and recovered spontaneously.