[The diagnosis and surgical management for intramedullary spinal cord cavernous angioma]

The clinical diagnosis and surgical management of intramedullary spinal cord cavernous angioma were discussed.

Total 19 patients with intramedullary cavernous angioma were analyzed retrospectively on the clinical manifestation, radiographic feature, diagnosis and differentiation, surgical technique and caution. Of all the 19 patients, averaging 38.7 years old, 14 were male and 5 were female. Nine patients were followed.

All the 19 patients pathologically diagnosed with spinal cord cavernous angioma got good surgical results, besides one patient showed loss of proprioception. Nine patients were followed up and all demonstrated improvement on neurological function.

The clinical symptom of most of the patients with spinal cord cavernous angioma presented mildly at onset, but deteriorated gradually because of repeated prehemorrhage. Since the lesion showed some characteristic in MRI, MRI examination was regarded as an important diagnostic tool. Dissection should be done between the tumor and the gliosis during the surgical procedure, special attention should be paid to avoiding tumor residual. It was not necessary to aggressively evacuate the hematoma derived from tumor hemorrhage, which extended along the central canal up and down, except obvious occupied syndrome exited.