[Spontaneous spinal epidural hematoma as cause of incomplete spinal cord injury].

Spontaneous spinal epidural hematomas are rare but are of differential diagnostic importance due to the potentially dramatic progression through to irreversible neurological deficits. At the beginning the clinical symptoms are non-specific and the development of neurological deficits leads to the diagnosis. We present the case of a 73-year-old female patient who initially reported uncharacteristic neck pain and developed incomplete quadriplegia during the next day as well as the case of a 78-year-old male patient, who complained of acute back pain and developed paraplegia a short time afterwards. Early microsurgery and spinal canal evacuation led to complete remission of the neurological deficits in both cases.