Lumbar Artery Hemorhage Complicating Surgical Spine Intervention: Treatment by Transcatheter Embolization

Abstract

Vascular injuries complicating lumbar spine surgery are uncommon and mostly involve the great vessels, either arteries or veins, situated anterior to the spine. We report a case of an iatrogenic lumbar artery injury resulting in massive retroperitoneal hemorrhage. Surgical hemostasis was insufficient, but the bleeding could be completely stopped by transcatheter embolization. To our knowledge, iatrogenic injury of a lumbar artery during surgical intervention successfully managed by transcatheter embolization is not yet reported in the literature till now.