Open AccessMassive bilocular spinal cord intramedullary lipoma of the thoracic spine
Author(s) -
Aikaterini Solomou,
Vasileios Panagiotopoulos,
Pantelis Kraniotis,
Katerina Apostolopoulou,
Fotis Tzortzidis
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
bjr case reports
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2055-7159
DOI - 10.1259/bjrcr.20170009
Subject(s) - medicine , intramedullary rod , lipoma , spinal cord , lesion , spinal canal , spinal cord neoplasm , magnetic resonance imaging , surgery , cord , radiology , psychiatry
Spinal cord intramedullary lipomas are rare, comprising 2% of intramedullary tumours. They are more often associated with spinal dysraphism, while lipomas not associated with spinal dysraphism are even less frequent, accounting for 1% of cases. The pathogenesis of spinal cord intramedullary lipomas remains unclear. MRI is the gold standard for the evaluation of these lesions. We hereby present a case of a 37-year-old male, who underwent MRI due to spastic paraparesis. MRI revealed a bilocular, spinal cord intramedullary lesion at the level of T 2 – T 5 , with dilatation of the spinal canal and signal characteristics compatible with lipoma. There was no clear imaging evidence of spinal dysraphism. The patient underwent surgery and diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically.