Spinal cord ischemia occurring in association with induced hypotension for colonic surgery.

A 19-year-old woman underwent an ileoanal pull-through. Intraoperatively, deepening of anesthesia was associated with reduced bleeding. Therefore, induced hypotension, mean arterial blood pressure 50 to 55 mm Hg, was maintained for 2.5 hours. Postoperatively, the patient was paraplegic with spinal cord infarction on magnetic resonance imaging from T9 to the tip of the conus medullaris. The collateralization of the anterior spinal artery is very variable and it seems likely that in this individual induced hypotension was associated with inadequate blood flow in the distribution of the artery of Adamkiewicz.