Lower limb monoplegia and dissociated hypoesthesia after epidural anesthesia.

Neurological sequelae reported after epidural anesthesia include epidural h ematoma, spinal cord ischemic injury and lumbosacral nerve root injury. We describe here a case of monoplegia of the right lower limb associated with an ipsilateral loss of perception of pain and temperature following an epid ural anesthesia. MRI was compatible with a right centrolateral infarction i n the gray matter of the spinal cord below D8. Hypotension, vascular spasm, trauma, arteriosclerosis, pressure increase in the epidural space are pote ntial causative mechanisms. Unilateral symptoms might result from injury to a sulcocommissural artery or an anterior spinal artery when duplicated.