Paraplegia following percutaneous insertion of an intra-aortic balloon

Paraplegia following insertion of an intra-aortic balloon is an extremely rare and unusual complication with only one previous report in the literature. We recently encountered this problem in a man with severe coronary disease and unstable angina. The etiology of this complication, although never established in our patient, was most likely a critical occlusion of a spinal cord artery as a result of either a small dissection or an arterial embolus.