• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.273-276
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• 2006

Although cavernous angioma itself is not rare, the epidural spinal localization is uncommon and makes preoperative differential diagnosis difficult. An extraordinary case of a thoracic epidural cavernous angioma in very young age, causing sudden paraplegia is presented. Only 79 cases have been reported in the literatures and among them, this kid was the youngest. A 23-month-old boy was referred to us with a 2-day history of sudden both lower limb weakness. Two days before admission, he got up at morning and was unable to stand and even to move the legs. MRI revealed an epidural mass surrounding spinal cord associated with cord compression at the level of the C5 through T3. Through posterior approach with exposure of C6 to T3 level, the hematomatous mass was removed subtotally due to intraoperative bleeding and its ventral location. After the first operation, the weakness of bilateral lower extremities was improved so as to move gainst the gravity. But the next day, the limb weakness was aggravated as same as preoperative status due to mass effect of new hematoma. The second operation was performed to remove the hematoma and to control the bleeding focus. Several weeks later, the limb weakness was improved and he was able to walk. The literatures about spinal cavernous angioma are reviewed.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.139-144
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• 2010

Objective : We report our surgical experience in the treatment of 16 consecutive patients with benign craniovertebral junction (CVJ) tumor, observed from 2003 to 2008 at our department. Methods : We had treated 6 foramen magnum meningiomas, 6 cervicomedullary hemangioblastomas, 1 accessory nerve schwannoma, 1 hypoglossal nerve schwannoma, 1 C2 root schwannoma, and 1 cavernous hemangioma. Clinical results were evaluated by Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) and all patients underwent preoperative neuroradiological evaluation with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance image (MRI). Angiography was performed in 15 patients and preoperative embolization was done in 2 patients. Results : Five far-lateral, 1 supracondylar and 10 midline suboccipital approaches were performed. Gross total removal was achieved in 15 cases (94%) and subtotal removal in 1 patient (6%). None of the patients required occipitocervical fusion. Radiological follow-up showed no recurrence in cases totally removed. Postoperative decrease of KPS scores was recorded in only 1 patient. The treatment of cervicomedullary solid hemangioblastoma presented particular issues : by preoperative embolization, we removed tumor totally without an excessive bleeding or brainstem injury. In one of foramen magnum meningioma, we carried out subtotal removal due to hard tumor consistency and encasement of neurovascular structures. Conclusion : The choice of surgical approaches and the extent of bone resection should be defined according to the location and size of individual tumors. Moreover, we emphasize that preoperative neuroradiological evaluations on presumptive tumor type could be helpful to the surgeon in tailoring the technique and providing the required exposure for different lesions, without unnecessary surgical steps.