Complications to cerebrospinal fluid drainage and predictors of spinal cord ischemia in patients with aortic disease undergoing advanced endovascular therapy

OBJECTIVE: To study the complications after cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage and predictors of spinal cord ischemia (SCI) after advanced endovascular therapy with CSF drainage for complex aortic disease.

METHODS: Between 2009 and 2012, 88 attempts of CSF drainage insertions/84 operations/83 patients, of the 658 operations for aortoiliac diseases, were performed.

RESULTS: Indications for therapy were aortic dissection (n = 13) and aortic aneurysm (n = 70), of whom 38 had thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysm (TAAA). In all, 10 had ruptured aorta. The CSF drainages were inserted preoperatively (n = 75) and postoperatively (n = 9). In all, 14 CSF drainages were nonfunctioning. The SCI was present in 29 patients, transient/permanent in 12/17. Intraoperative circulatory instability (P = .001) and operation for TAAA, type II (P = .036), were associated with SCI. Meningitis (n = 1), epidural (n = 1), and subdural (n = 2) hematoma and needle-mediated paresis in 1 leg (n = 1) occurred after CSF drainage.

CONCLUSIONS: Complication to CSF drainage occurred too frequently in this selected group of patients with high rate of SCI.