Progressive Quadriplegia from Kyposis in Pediatric Patient after Laminectomy for Cervical Intramedullary Tumor Excision: Case Report and Literature Review in Short

Abstract

Cervical spinal deformities with progressive neurological deficit after laminectomy is relatively uncommon. But, it can happen more commonly after resection of intramedullary spinal cord lesions than other spinal lesion. Postlaminectomy cervical spinal deformity is most common in children with an immature skeletal system. Many factors such as the extent of laminectomy and facetectomy, number of laminae removed, location of laminectomy, preoperative loss of lordosis, postoperative radiation therapy, etc. can precipitate such deformities. We report a pediatric patient with who underwent successful complete removal of long segment cervical intramedullary spinal tumor. Postoperatively he developed progressive kyphosis in cervical spine with progressive neurological deficit. We went for second operation (anterior cervical spinal cord decompression by two segments corpectomy followed by iliac crest strut graft fusion and stabilization). Postoperatively patient recovered well. He had loss of cervical spinal lordosis with mild kyphosis before first operation. Such a case report in the literature is relatively uncommon. Here, we also go for short review of literature on this topic.