[Panmedullary ependymoma with complete excision in several stages. Apropos of a case]

Treatment of a panmedullary ependymoma involved a three-stage operation with total excision under microscopic control and the use of the Cavitron. The patient, a 22 year old woman, presented with a three-year history, with clinical onset of staged spinal pain and cervicobrachial neuralgia, of spasmodic paraparesis with sensory and sphincter disturbances. The extent of the lesion from C3 to L2 was determined from data from conventional myelography with Iopamiron, a CT scan with intrathecal contrast and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of sagittal and frontal sections. The tumor, a grade I ependymoma, was treated by three-stage laminectomies (L2-T12, T12-T3, T3-C3), total excision being obtained by ultrasound fragmentation (Cavitron). Gross pathology showed a heterogeneous appearance with two cysts, one capping the tumor from the bulbospinal junction to C3, the other attached to the medullary cone. Hemorrhagic cavities were noted at cervicothoracic region and multiple microcysts in the dorsal expansion. The postoperative course was uneventful with recovery of walking wearing a bivalve acrylic corset, the most disturbing functional complication being the posterior cord syndrome responsible for an ataxia.