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Updated: Oct 23, 2026

Intraoperative Ultrasound in Spinal Surgery
Published on: August 17, 2022
Synovial cyst of dens causing spinal cord compression. Case report
W Choe1, I Walot, C Schlesinger
1Department of Pathology, University of California Irvine Medical Center.
Abstract:
We report a rare case of synovial cyst of the dens (odontoid process) in a 61 year old women with no previous history of trauma. She had progressive symptoms of 1 year's duration due to spinal cord compression. Magnetic resonance imaging of cervical spine revealed a large mass posterior to the dens which was compressing the spinal cord near the cervicomedullary junction. This lesion was at first considered radiologically to represent an exuberant pannus formation or a meningioma of the foramen magnum, but subsequent surgical intervention and pathological examination revealed that it was a synovial cyst. Similar cases reported in the literature are reviewed and discussed.
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