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. 2024 May 24:15:170.
doi: 10.25259/SNI_280_2024. eCollection 2024.

Isolated thoracic intradural extramedullary epidermoid cyst: A technical note

Malak El Marrakchi  1 , Mostafa Haddi  2 , Nahla Zian  1 , Younes Bellihi  1 , Houssine Ghannane  1 , Said Ait Benali  1
Affiliations

Isolated thoracic intradural extramedullary epidermoid cyst: A technical note

Malak El Marrakchi et al. Surg Neurol Int. .

Abstract

Background: Congenital, acquired, and iatrogenic spinal epidermoid cysts (EC) are very rare.

Methods: A 62-year-old female patient presented with a 5-month history of progressive paraparesis leading to paraplegia secondary to a posterior compressive intradural extramedullary lesion at the T7 level. The patient underwent a laminectomy/durotomy for gross total tumor excision.

Results: Histopathology confirmed the lesion was an epidermoid cyst. Although her spasticity improved within 5 weeks, she only regained partial lower extremity motion (i.e., 3/5 motor function).

Conclusion: Patients presenting with the acute/subacute onset of paraparesis secondary to spinal EC should undergo timely gross total cyst resections to optimize neurological outcomes.

Keywords: Epidermoid cyst; Extramedullary; Intradural; Spinal; Thoracic.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Posterior compressive intradural extramedullary mass at T7, (a) slightly hypointense in T1-weighted sequences, (b) with a discrete annular peripheric enhancement in T1 injected fat saturation (FAT SAT) sequences, (c and d) and hyperintense in T2-weighted sequences.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Intraoperative picture of the epidermoid cysts (a) before and (b) after gross total resection.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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