Biography
Biography: Fatih Yakar
Abstract
The presence of air in spinal canal is called as “pneumorrhachis.” Nontraumatic, noniatrogenic spontaneous spinal air is an uncommon case. Peripheral alveoli burst due to the increased pressure in alveoli in the case of trauma, asthma, pneumothorax, or pneumomediastinum. Air pass to the mediastinum and then to retropharyngeal space and reaches to epidural space. A 44-year-old female patient was consulted for the waist and leg pain. Neurological examination was intact. The patient had a spinal computed tomography (CT) scan because of claustrophobia. In the spinal CT, the air pack was seen at the level of L5-S1 spinal extradural midline space. It was seen that the air pack in the spinal canal compress the thecal sac anteriorly. The patient has no history of spinal trauma, surgical procedures, medical treatment, asthma, pneumothorax, or pneumomediastinum. The patient was treated with anti-inflammatory drugs and followed without any surgical procedures. Air in the spinal canal was first defined by Gordon and Hardman in 1977. However, spontaneous extradural spinal air is a very rare condition. There are theories related to air entering to the spinal canal have been described. According to Coulier, gas accumulated in degenerated disc reaches to the spinal space by finding a gap from annulus fibrosus. In the absence of neurological deficits, follow-up of the patient with conservative medication is possible.