Acute Lumbar Paraspinal Compartment Syndrome after a Tug of War: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Author Info

Raphael Sedlmayer Irakli Tinikashvili Sebastian F. Bigdon Helena Milavec Susanne Eichenberger Paul G. Fairhurst Moritz C. Deml

Corresponding Author

Moritz C. Deml
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, University of Bern, Switzerland

A B S T R A C T

Compartment syndrome of the upper and the lower extremities is a well-known entity in emergency medicine and traumatology. However, compartment syndrome of the paraspinal musculature is a very rare cause of acute back pain and may be missed at presentation despite its clinical importance. Therefore, we present a case of paraspinal compartment syndrome embedded in an overview of the actual literature. A 21- year-old woman presented with acute back pain refractory to analgesia with opiates after a tug of war match. A CT-scan of the abdomen demonstrated paraspinal swelling and an MRI ruled out intra-spinal pathologies. A compartment measurement yielded a pressure of 135mmHg. Even though conservative treatment attempts are often described, an emergency fasciotomy was carried out. Further rehabilitation was uneventful. Nevertheless, the timing of fasciotomy in the paraspinal region is under discussion, especially due to very rare experiences. Even if surgery is delayed by more than 24 hours following symptom onset, favourable postoperative outcomes have been observed.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report and Review of the Literature

Publication history

Received: Fri 04, Dec 2020
Accepted: Fri 18, Dec 2020
Published: Thu 31, Dec 2020

Copyright

© 2023 Moritz C. Deml. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.IJSCR.2020.04.03