Neurosurgery
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Review Case Reports
Hemorrhagic synovial cyst: the possible role of initial trauma and subsequent microtrauma in its pathogenesis: case report.
Intraspinal synovial cysts are uncommon causes of back and radicular leg pain. Usually associated with degenerative spinal disease, these juxtafacet cysts are usually located in the lumbar spine and may rarely undergo intracystic hemorrhage. The pathogenesis of these cysts are unclear, and risk factors that may contribute to hemorrhagic complications are largely unknown. ⋯ We present the eighth reported case of a hemorrhagic juxtafacet cyst secondary to physical trauma, the second in which the patient's symptoms acutely worsened several months after the initial insult without new trauma. We also present summary statistics of the 31 cases of hemorrhagic juxtafacet cysts reported in the literature and propose a putative mechanism that may account for the development and progression of symptoms in some patients.