A STUDY OF EXTRADURAL SPINAL TUMORS

Abstract

Extradural spinal tumors frequently present a certain vagueness in the symptoms not observed in intradural tumors, which may make early diagnosis difficult. This is due to mechanical factors involved in the interposition of the tough dura and the noncompressible cerebrospinal fluid covering between the tumor and the spinal cord. The interpretation of these mechanical factors may often make the differential diagnosis between extradural and intradural spinal tumors. This series of twenty extradural spinal tumors, six in the cervical and fourteen in the thoracic region, were studied from the point of view of determining the relationship between the mechanical factors and the symptomatology. The segmental distribution is indicated in Figure 1. In order to bring together syndromes, presumably similar, a grouping of the tumors was made according both to the levels involved and to the pathology. They have, therefore, been grouped into cervical extradural tumors and thoracic extradural tumors, the latter