Neuropathic pain syndrome as an occult manifestation of injury of the spinal cord after surgical repair of aortic coarctation

Injury to the spinal cord injury with paraplegia, is a rare complication of surgical repair of aortic coarctation recognized immediately post-operativ ely. We present the case of a 41-year-old male undergoing surgery for reste nosis at the site of a repair. Intra-operatively, he suffered inadvertent i njury to an intercostal arterial branch during isolation of the aorta below the graft. Over the following months, he developed unusual symptoms involv ing the legs and genitourinary tract which, only after extensive investigat ions, were attributed to ischemic damage to the spinal cord related to the surgery. We suspect that similar syndromes reflecting injury to the spinal cord injury may be unrecognized following surgical repair of coarctation.