Intradural-Extramedullary Cervical Cord Lipoma: Case Report and Literature Review
Dimitrios Panagopoulos1, Georgios Markogiannakis1, Michael Koutzoglou1
1Department of Neurosurgical Department, Aglaia Kyriakou Pediatric Hospital of Athens, Athens, Attica, Greece.
Background:
Spinal lipomas are generally thought to occur as a result of failed primary neurulation. Failed primary neurulation allows invasion of mesenchymal tissue of mesodermic origin into the neural structure, leading to the formation of a spinal lipoma. Despite most spinal lipomas being regarded as the result of failed primary neurulation, some confusion in terms of the embryogenesis of spinal lipomas remains. Recently, a novel classification of spinal lipomas based on embryonic changes seen during primary and secondary neurulation was has been proposed.
Case Description:
We present a case of an intradural-extramedullary spinal cord lipoma, associated with a subjacent subcutaneous lipoma at the cervicothoracic region. The patient presented with worsening neurologic symptoms, indicating ongoing cervical myelopathy. A subtotal resection along with posterior cervical stabilization was achieved, with mild improvement of neurologic symptoms. Clinical, pathologic, and radiologic records are reviewed.
Conclusions:
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first described case of a spinal cord lipoma with at such a location, one that cannot be fully categorized within the newly proposed classification system.
