School of Medicine Publications and Presentations
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
9-2022
Abstract
Introduction
Dermoid cysts are rare lesions generally associated with embryological errors that occur during neural tube closure. Intramedullary lesions are extremely rare, especially within the upper thoracic spinal cord.
Case presentation
We report a case of a 19-year-old male who had an intramedullary thoracic dermoid cyst presenting with progressive ataxia, lower limb weakness, and hyperreflexia. MRI demonstrated a 1.2 × 1.8-cm intramedullary thoracic dermoid cyst causing significant spinal cord compression, which was successfully removed via full resection. The patient had an uncomplicated postoperative course, with improvement in preoperative deficits.
Discussion
This is a unique case documenting a thoracic spinal cord intramedullary dermoid cyst not associated with trauma or congenital abnormality of the spinal cord.
Conclusion
We highlight the importance of future inclusion of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (DWI) with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), an imaging modality that detects differences in cellularity of spinal cord lesions, for earlier diagnosis of dermoid cyst.
Recommended Citation
Adams, J. P., Habenicht, D., & Desai, S. K. (2022). Diagnosing a rare thoracic intramedullary spinal dermoid cyst using DWI with ADC mapping: Case report. Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 81, 104440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104440
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication Title
Annals of medicine and surgery
DOI
10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104440
Academic Level
medical student
Comments
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