Unrecognized Dural Tears During Spine Surgery May Lead to Serious Postoperative Complications

Undiagnosed durotomy in spinal surgery can lead to serious complications like pseudomeningocele, CSF leaks, and meningitis

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, July 14, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- “Unintended iatrogenic durotomy in spine surgery may cause serious complications including meningitis, nerve root compression, and pseudomeningoceles,” states Greg Vigna, MD, JD, national neurological injury attorney.

Dr. Greg Vigna, Board Certified Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician, “Pseudomeningoceles may become infected, which is a complication of spinal surgeries. A pseudomeningocele is a collection of cerebral spinal fluid caused by a tear or cut of the dura mater which is a membrane or sac around the spinal cord and brain. Most tears in the dura are identified during open spinal surgery and immediately treated. The issue with percutaneous endoscopic lumbar diskectomy is that the incidental tears in the dura, a complication of spinal surgeries, will be missed because the device uses continuous saline.”

Dr. Vigna says, “Pseudomeningoceles may be an unrecognized risk as to its frequency of occurrence because tears are not identified at the time of surgery.”

Read “Delayed Infected Pseudomeningocele After Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Diskectomy” published in World Neurosurgery 119:315-320, November 2018:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1878875018318400?fr=RR-9&ref=pdf_download&rr=9562419a59bbcbac

Dr. Vigna concludes, “We represent individuals who have suffered from meningitis due to a failure to timely diagnose and treat surgical complications of the spine including cerebral spinal fluid leaks, pseudomeningoceles, and meningitis. Patients can get injured if there is no differential diagnosis, and if they are not promptly diagnosed and treated. CSF leak in this situation must be treated in a timely fashion."

Dr. Vigna is a California and Washington DC lawyer who focuses on catastrophic pain syndromes caused by the Coloplast Altis sling, including pudendal neuralgia and obturator neuralgia. He represents individuals with the Ben Martin Law Group, a national pharmaceutical injury law firm in Dallas, Texas. The attorneys are product liability and medical malpractice attorneys, and they represent neurological injuries across the country.

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Greg Vigna, MD, JD
Vigna Law Group
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