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Study Design.

The article presents and discusses 4 cases in which symptomatic epidural gas developed after different surgeries on the lumbar spine.

Objective.

To raise spinal surgeons’ awareness of this potential problem.

Summary of Background Data.

Vacuum phenomenon (gas accumulation in an intervertebral disc) is relatively common. Gas can also spontaneously enter and collect in the epidural space, but symptomatic epidural gas after spinal surgery is very rare. To date, only 5 such cases after lumbar surgery have been reported.

Methods.

The primary disorders in the 4 new cases were disc extrusion at L2–L3 (Case 1), disc degeneration and herniation at L4–L5 (Case 2), stenosis of the lumbar spinal canal (Case 3), and disc herniation at L5–S1 with spinal canal stenosis (Case 4). The corresponding surgeries performed were L2–L3 microdiscectomy, L4–L5 microdiscectomy with instrumentation, right …