Superficial siderosis of the central nervous system associated with intraspinal hemorrhage from ventral thoracic epidural veins and a ventral spinal CSF leak: case report

Abstract

In most patients with superficial siderosis of the CNS, the exact source of bleeding remains unknown because of a lack of objective surgical data. The authors herein describe the case of a 58-year-old man with superficial siderosis of the CNS. The patient also had spinal CSF leakage due to a spinal dural defect. Repair surgery for the dural defect was performed using posterior laminoplasty with a transdural approach without spinal fixation. During repair surgery, the bleeding source was found to be the epidural vein around the defect. The intraoperative and histological results of the present case suggest that epidural veins exposed to CSF represent a chronic bleeding source in patients with superficial siderosis of the CNS complicated by CSF leakage. Dural repair surgery may result in discontinuation of the CSF leaks, resolution of the epidural CSF collection, and cessation of chronic epidural bleeding.