Chory RM, Craver J, Cone R, Chory S. Normalization of Elevated Blood Pressure After Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.
Cureus 2022;
14:e25979. [PMID:
35855243 PMCID:
PMC9286013 DOI:
10.7759/cureus.25979]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Perioperative change to the autonomic nervous system (ANS) in spine surgery is an uncommon occurrence but has a wide range of possible presentations including blood pressure, heart rate, and heart rate variability changes collectively referred to as dysreflexia. Increased sympathetic tone and decreased vagal output are believed to be the underlying causes of these autonomic manifestations and pose an important question as to effective treatment of these dysfunctions. Spinal nerve root decompression has shown to be a valuable tool in normalizing autonomic tone by increasing parasympathetic output, most notably to the cardiovascular system, leading to the resolution of the aforementioned cardiovascular complications. Here we report a patient with elevated blood pressure with complaints of upper extremity paresthesias. MRI showed nerve root compression, and anterior cervical discectomy was performed. Post-operatively the patient had a decrease in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure which was maintained two months after surgery and allowed for discontinuation of one anti-hypertensive medication.
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