BRIEFLY NOTED - CAUDA-EQUINA SYNDROME CAUSED BY MIGRATING FAT GRAFT AFTER LUMBAR SPINAL DECOMPRESSION - A CASE-REPORT DEMONSTRATED WITH MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING

CAR FORMATION is one of the main complications of decompressive surgery in the lumbar spine.3,5 Epidural fat grafting has been demonstrated to diminish scar formation experimentally.2,4,6 This procedure is generally performed and was recommended in a recent monograph on lumbar spinal stenosis.8 Recently, however, six cases have been presented in which compression of the cauda equina ascribed to displacement of the fat graft occurred.7,9 The following is a case report of a patient in whom the left L5 nerve root was decompressed and on whom epidural fat grafting was performed. On the day after surgery, the fat graft had migrated up to the level of the L3 vertebra, causing cauda equina syndrome. © Lippincott-Raven Publishers.