Spontaneous Spinal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage from a Ruptured Radiculopial Artery Aneurysm

Spontaneous spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage is an uncommon entity and is even rarer when secondary to intraspinal ruptured aneurysm. The clinical presentation of these cases usually includes back pain and headache; however, we report a unique case in which the patient became acutely paraplegic.

A 54-year-old woman initially presented with thunderclap headache and interscapular pain. There was no evidence of subarachnoid hemorrhage on noncontrast computed tomography of the head, but lumbar puncture revealed xanthochromia-positive cerebrospinal fluid. Subsequent computed tomography angiography identified a small right superior hypophyseal aneurysm. The patient then became acutely paraplegic during neurosurgical assessment in the emergency department. Urgent magnetic resonance imaging revealed extensive intradural hemorrhage in the cervicothoracic region, prompting emergent surgical decompression. At surgery, this hemorrhage was noted in a subarachnoid location, but no specific source was identified. Postoperative spinal digital subtraction angiography revealed an intraspinal aneurysm of the posterior spinal circulation involving the left T2 radiculopial artery, which was resected in a subsequent uneventful operation within the same hospital admission.

This unique clinical case highlights a rare cause of spontaneous acute paralysis and further demonstrates the safety of obliterating an intraspinal aneurysm via operative resection.