Acute motor weakness of lower extremity after a novel balloon-inflatable catheter for percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis and decompression: A case report

Background: As our population ages and the rate of spine surgery continues to rise, the use of epidural lysis of adhesions has emerged as a popular treatment for spinal stenosis and disc herniation. Percutaneous Epidural Adhesiolysis (PEA) causes pain by preventing the release of increased spinal nerve movement and nerve sensitivity due to nerve compression. PEA and decompression with a newly developed inflatable balloon catheter have been widely used to treat radicular pain caused by spinal stenosis or a herniated intervertebral disc. Case presentation: A 64-year-old female patient who had lower back pain and right buttock pain radiating to the leg caused by an L4- L5 severe spinal stenosis underwent PEA and decompression using a Zigzag-motion Inflatable Neuroplasty (ZiNeu®, JUVENUI, Seoul, Korea) catheter. After the procedure, the patient complained of acute motor weakness in the right leg. After conservative treatment, motor weakness and paresthesia gradually improved over time. At the follow-up visit after 3 weeks, there were no signs of motor or sensory abnormalities. Conclusions: Practitioners should be aware that these complications can occur at any time, and a skilled practitioner should undertake the procedure. Keywords: cute motor weakness; percutaneous epidural adhesiolysis and decompression; spinal stenosis. Abbreviations: HIVD: Herniated Intervertebral Disc; MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; NRS: Numeric Rating Scale; ODI: Oswestry Disability Index; PEA: Percutaneous Epidural Adhesiolysis.