Surgical treatment of spinal neurenteric cysts

Abstract

Background. Spinal neurenteric cysts are very rare benign space-occupying lesions in the vertebral canal emerging due to anomalies of neural tube development during prenatal development of the fetus. Clinically, neurenteric cysts can manifest both in childhood and adulthood.Aim. To evaluate the results of surgical treatment of adult patients with spinal neurenteric cysts who were operated on at the Neurosurgery Division of the Clinic of Nervous System Diseases of the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.Materials and methods. The study group included 3 patients (2 women and 1 man) with mean age of 33 years. The main diagnosis method was magnetic resonance imaging. In all cases, radical cyst resection was performed with subsequent histological examination of cyst walls.Results. In all observations, cyst walls had local areas of increased density and thickness: a distinctive solid component accumulating the contrast agent in magnetic resonance images. This type of structure is considered extremely rare per descriptions presented in literature, but in our case series it was detected in all patients. Cyst resection led to pain syndrome regression and almost full regression of clinical manifestations of spinal cord compression which justifies active surgical tactics in this pathology.Conclusion. Neurenteric cyst of the vertebral canal can cause spinal cord compression. The main diagnostic method of this pathology is magnetic resonance imaging, however magnetic resonance semiotics of these cyst has not been standardized. The presence of constant pain syndrome without marked clinical signs of compression myelopathy is sufficient reason for cyst resection surgery. Cyst resection allowsto achieve regression of pain syndrome and neurological abnormalities caused by spinal cord compression.