Hybrid Treatment of Acute Abdominal Aortic Thrombosis Presenting with Paraplegia

Abstract

Acute thrombotic or embolic occlusion of the abdominal aorta is a rare vascular emergency associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Classically, the clinical presentation is a severe peripheral ischemia with bilateral leg pain as the predominant feature. Aortic occlusion presenting as an isolated acute onset of paraplegia due to spinal cord ischemia is very rare and requires improved awareness to prevent adverse outcomes associated with delayed diagnosis. We report the case of a 54-year-old man who presented with sudden paraplegia due to the thrombotic occlusion of the infrarenal aorta involving the first segment of the common iliac arteries on both sides; emergent transperitoneal aorto iliac thrombectomy combined with the endovascular iliac kissing-stent technique were performed achieving perioperative complete regression of the symptoms.