Isolated spinal cord lipoma

Abstract

A case of isolated intradural spinal cord lipoma is presented. Most isolated spinal cord lipomas are intradural extramedullary, and the most common location is subpial. True intramedullary lipomas are very rare. Patient history is usually of months to years of local back pain, with recent escalation of pain and development of neurological symptoms. MRI examination shows a well circumscribed lesion of high signal on both T1 and T2 weighted images, and suppression on fat saturation sequence. Subtotal resection is the surgical aim. This improves pain but neurological symptoms rarely improve, usually are unchanged, and occasionally are worse.