Vascular injury in tubular lumbar microdiscectomy, case report and literature review

Vascular injury in lumbar disk disease is a common complication reviewed in the literature. In our study, we reviewed the rare complication of vascular injury that occurs during lumbar microscopic tubular discectomy. The patient is a 46-year-old male, diabetic, hypertensive and a smoker who presented with a history of backache and right-sided radiculopathy to S1 dermatome for 6 weeks. Conservative measures failed, and we planned and performed microscopic tubular discectomy at the level of L5-S1. Immediately postoperatively, the patient developed acute, sharp, burning pain in the left leg, partially relieved on hip flexion, with diminished distal pulsation of dorsalis pedis, popliteal and femoral. Urgent consultation with a vascular surgeon included a computed tomography angiography which confirmed a vascular injury of the left iliac artery and vein near the bifurcation. The plan involved urgent retroperitoneal exploration of the left iliac vessels, and primary repair with synthetic graft was done with distal embolectomy to regain distal pulsation postoperatively. Further follow-up revealed that the repair was successful.