Classical surgical resection of osteoid osteoma of the cervical spine

Osteoid osteoma is a benign primary skeletal neoplasm occurring mainly in the cortex of long bones, but also in the spine. It occurs most often in young adult males and causes pain in the affected area. It presents as a nidus surrounded by reactive osteosclerosis or less often as a cancellous lesion with only a slight osteosclerosis. Osteoid osteoma may occur in basically any bone of the body, but the strategy of treatment has to be considered carefully, especially when it occurs in the spine. We report about a 38 year old female diagnosed with an osteoid osteoma located in the posterior element of the 5th cervical vertebra. She presented with persisting neck pain over one and a half years. An MRI and CT scan was performed. Due to the vicinity seen in the MRI imaging to neural structures and the slim rest of cortex in this area we decided to use the classical surgical excision through a minimal invasive approach to resect the lesion. Histological examination revealed the typical structures for osteoid osteoma. The patient was immediately free of symptoms and still is nine months after treatment. Surgical excision of an osteoid osteoma is still a good alternative to percutaneous radiofrequency ablation when treating osteoid osteoma located in close vicinity to neural structures.