RESUMEN
PURPOSE: We describe a case of urinary retention caused by viral sacral myeloradiculitis (Elsberg syndrome) that occurred one week after spinal anesthesia. The differential diagnosis of urinary retention after spinal anesthesia is discussed. CLINICAL FEATURES: A 76-yr-old male patient presented for operative removal of a right testicular hydrocele under spinal anesthesia. Anesthesia and surgery were uneventful, and he was discharged on the fifth postoperative day. Two days after discharge, he developed intermittent anal pain and voiding difficulty and was readmitted to hospital on the tenth postoperative day. He subsequently developed urinary retention, incontinence of feces, and difficulty in defecation. Magnetic resonance imaging showed no epidural hematoma, abscess, or other lesions in the spinal column, cauda equina, or spinal cord. Neurological examination showed dysesthesia in the perineal region and loss of the anal reflex and bulbocavernosus response, which indicated sacral (S4-5) radiculopathy or a lesion of the conus of the spinal cord. A cerebrospinal analysis showed slight elevation of protein without pleocytosis. After neurologic consultation, herpetic sacral myeloradiculitis was suspected and intravenous acyclovir was administered along with large doses of methylprednisolone and immunoglobulin. The symptoms gradually resolved, and the difficulty in voiding resolved 19 days after initiation of the treatment. The patient was discharged 23 days after the start of the treatment without any other complications. CONCLUSION: This case suggests that Elsberg syndrome is important in the differential diagnosis of urinary retention after spinal anesthesia and should be discriminated from other anesthesia-related complications.
Asunto(s)
Anestesia Raquidea/efectos adversos , Infecciones por Herpesviridae/diagnóstico , Radiculopatía/diagnóstico , Retención Urinaria/etiología , Aciclovir/uso terapéutico , Anciano , Anestesia Raquidea/métodos , Diagnóstico Diferencial , Infecciones por Herpesviridae/complicaciones , Humanos , Inmunoglobulinas/uso terapéutico , Masculino , Metilprednisolona/uso terapéutico , Radiculopatía/complicaciones , Radiculopatía/virología , Factores de Tiempo , Retención Urinaria/diagnósticoRESUMEN
We report a case of an accidental loss of anesthesia records through network failure of an anesthesia information management system (AIMS). The backup data were not kept in the anesthesia workstations or the server during the failure. Accordingly, anesthesia records of five patients were lost for one hour. Our AIMS has a network redundancy where the server keeps anesthesia monitoring data via two pathways: one via the monitoring server to the AIMS server and the other via anesthesia workstation to the server. Despite the redundant pathways, transient power failures of network switches caused interruptions in both pathways. Our case indicates that, to improve the robustness of the AIMS as electronic medical records, every network apparatus of AIMS, should be supplied with an uninterrupted power supply. Furthermore, each anesthesia workstation should function independently as an anesthesia record keeping client when network failure occurs.