Abstract

Nine patients, 16 years of age or younger with primary spinal cord tumors, diagnosed between 1991 and 2003 at The Kaohsiung University Hospital, were reviewed retrospectively. There were 2 female and 7 male patients. Two tumors were located primarily in the cervical cord (1 meningioma, 1 neurofibroma), five were predominantly thoracic (1 lymphoma, 1 meningioma, 1 astrocytoma, 1 fibrosarcoma and 1 osteoblastoma), one lumbar (ependymoma), and one sacral (Ewing's sarcoma). The most common clinical presentation was limb weakness (100%) followed by back pain (44.4%). All the patients underwent laminectomy for removal of their tumors. Five children with benign tumors improved postoperatively. At discharge, these 5 children could walk without assistance and have remained stable with long-term of follow-up. Radical surgery should be considered in benign primary spinal cord tumors. As would be expected, patients diagnosed and treated early and in whom a total resection was achieved had a better prognosis.

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