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Combined laminectomy and thoracoscopic resection of a dumbbell neurofibroma: technical case report
J S Citow1, R L Macdonald, M K Ferguson
1Department of Surgery, Pritzker School of Medicine and University of Chicago Hospitals, Illinois 60637, USA.
Objective And Importance:
We describe combined laminectomy and thoracoscopic surgery for removal of a dumbbell thoracic spinal tumor to demonstrate the feasibility of such an approach.
Clinical Presentation:
We present the case of a 29-year-old man who developed chest pain and spinal cord compression from a thoracic dumbbell neurofibroma.
Technique:
Surgical approaches for benign nerve sheath tumors that extend from the spinal cord into the thoracic cavity include combined laminectomy and thoracotomy either in one or two stages, or a lateral extracavitary approach involving laminectomy, facetectomy, and rib resection in a single stage. We performed a combination laminectomy and thoracoscopic tumor resection in a single stage with good results.
Conclusion:
This technique has not been reported previously in the literature. It has the advantage of avoiding the potential morbidity of a thoracotomy, as well as the extensive muscle dissection and pain associated with the lateral extracavitary approach.