Spine
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Review Case Reports
The rare case of an intramedullary cervical spinal cord teratoma in an elderly adult: case report and literature review.
STUDY DESIGN.: Case report and literature review. OBJECTIVES.: To report the very rare case of a mature intramedullary teratoma with exophytic extension localized to the uppermost cervical spinal level in a 65-year-old woman and review the pertinent medical literature. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA.: Cervical intramedullary teratomas are extremely rare in adults, especially in patients older than 50 years. ⋯ RESULTS.: After surgery, the patient's ataxia, tremor, and dizziness resolved almost immediately. CONCLUSION.: This report presents the very rare case of a mature intramedullary teratoma located in the upper cervical spine of an elderly patient, possibly the oldest patient documented with this type of lesion. The authors recommend a conservative subtotal surgical resection of cervical intramedullary tumors because it may improve symptoms that relate to direct mechanical cord compression and avoid further harm from a gross resection.
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Review Case Reports
Symptomatic epidural pneumorrhachis associated with an occult pneumomediastinum due to minor trauma.
STUDY DESIGN.: A case report and review of the literature. OBJECTIVE.: To discuss the significance of identifying symptomatic epidural pneumorrhachis associated with an occult pneumomediastinum in the absence of pneumothorax and subcutaneous emphysema after minor trauma. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA.: Pneumorrhachis is defined as the presence of air in the epidural space or subarachnoid space. ⋯ Our patient was treated conservatively and had a complete and uneventful recovery. CONCLUSION.: To our knowledge, this is the first case in which symptomatic traumatic epidural pneumorrhachis was associated with an occult pneumomediastinum in the absence of pneumothorax and subcutaneous emphysema. These findings may be useful in alerting trauma specialists to carefully evaluate the associated pathologies leading to pneumorrhachis enabling adequate therapy.