Ischemic injury to the spinal cord as a cause of transient paraplegia

Spinal cord ischemia presenting as acute paraplegia is an uncommon occurrence not previously reported in the emergency medicine literature. Paraplegia due to spinal ischemia is seen most commonly after intraoperative aortic manipulation; however, acute hypotension and prolonged cardiopulmonary resuscitation are also reported settings. The differential diagnosis of acute, non-traumatic paraplegia includes mechanical spinal cord compression, acute transverse myelitis, and polyneuritis.