Pneumorrhachis, the presence of intraspinal air, is rarely described in the literature. Because of its rarity, evaluation of this condition is not fully understood. Non traumatic pneumorrhachis is a very rare phenomenon and mostly associated with violent coughing or bronchial asthma. Herein we describe a case of pneumorrhachis due to gas forming infection of abdominal wall muscles and fasciae a...

An 18-year-old man with a history of type 1 diabetes mellitus presented with a sudden onset of retrosternal pain and dyspnea, preceded by a 3-day history of severe vomiting. The patient denied any fever but complained of new-onset headache. His vitals signs were normal. Physical examination revealed a dehydrated patient with cervical subcutaneous emphysema and Hamman’s crunch sign. There were n...

BACKGROUND Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is an uncommon benign condition that is occasionally associated with subcutaneous emphysema and occasionally with pneumothorax, but is rarely associated with pneumorrhachis (air within the spinal epidural space). CASE REPORT We describe the case of a 20-year-old man and discuss a classification system of pneumorrhachis and its pathoanatomy, clinical an...

BACKGROUND Pneumorrhachis (PR) means the presence of air in the spinal canal; it is an exceptional, but important radiographic finding, which may be associated with different aetiologies and pathways of air entry into the spinal canal. CASE REPORT An 18-year-old male was admitted to hospital after a road traffic accident. He was conscious, with several abrasions and subcutaneous haematoma and...

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a very uncommon entity that is defined as the presence of free air in the mediastinum without an obvious etiology. The presence of air in the spinal canal, known as concurrent pneumorrhachis, is an extremely rare epiphenomenon of spontaneous pneumomediastinum. We report a rare case of spontaneous pneumomediastinum with pneumorrhachis associated with influenza. T...

An elderly woman with a chronic decubitus sacral ulcer presented to the emergency department with sepsis. A computed tomography of her abdomen showed diffuse gas extending throughout the thoracolumbar spinal canal. Pneumorrhachis is a rare radiographic finding defined as gas within the spinal canal. There are many causes of pneumorrhachis ranging from trauma to infection. In this case the pneum...

Pneumomediastinum, the presence of free air within the mediastinal cavity, is sometimes accompanied by subcutaneous emphysema and pneumorrhachis (air within the spinal canal). We report the case of a 28-year-old man with previously undiagnosed HIV who was diagnosed with extensive pneumomediastinum, pneumorrhachis, and subcutaneous emphysema secondary to Pneumocystis jiroveci pneumonia after pre...

We present two cases of traumatic pneumorrhachis that is defined as air within the spinal canal. It is also known as pneumosaccus, intraspinal pneumocele, aerorachia, pneumomyelogram, or simply intraspinal air. Only few cases have been reported in the literature, and a review of the literature has exposed only 35 cases in epidural type and 18 cases in subarachnoid type. (J Kor Neurotraumatol So...