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Intramedullary amputation neuromas arising in association with spinal ependymomas: report of three cases
Author(s) -
Johnson Michael William,
Burger Peter C.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a390-c
Subject(s) - medicine , neuroma , intramedullary rod , amputation , spinal cord , context (archaeology) , ependymoma , spinal cord compression , surgery , pathology , paleontology , psychiatry , biology
Amputation neuromas result from traumatic complete or partial transection of a peripheral nerve. Intramedullary spinal neuromas with the same histologic appearance are very rare. Primarily incidental findings at necropsy, intramedullary neuromas are, for the most part, thought to be caused by documented or presumed transecting trauma. However, they have also been described in the context of cord compression by extramedullary spinal tumors and in association with demyelinating disease. Here we describe three patients with ependymoma and associated amputation neuroma. These lesions were found incidentally at the time of tumor resection and likely resulted from compression of small perivascular nerves by the spinal neoplasm. Pathologically, the lesions were characterized by intersecting fascicles of S100‐positive, highly myelinated nerve twigs, in a pattern typical of traumatic neuroma. The frequency of this diagnostically confusing tumor/neuroma complex is unclear.