Idiopathic Spinal Cord Herniation - A Case Report -

Case Report

Korean J Spine 2005;2(3): 285-288.

Sung-Man Park, M.D., Young-Min Han, M.D., Dong-Sup Chung, M.D.

Department of Neurosugery, Our Lady of Mercy Hospital College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Incheon, Korea

특발성 척수 탈출증 - 증례 보고 -

박성만^,한영민^,정동섭

가톨릭대학교 의과대학 성모자애병원 신경외과학교실

Abstract

Idiopathic spinal cord herniation is a rare disease that presents with slowly progressive myelopathy. We recently experienced a case of idiopathic spinal cord herniation in the upper thoracic spine. A 57-year-old man initially presented at the age of 45 years with left leg weakness. After slowly progressive neurological deterioration over 12 years, he showed spastic paraparesis with sensory disturbances. On magnetic resonance images of the thoracic spine obtained at the age of 57 years, the spinal cord at T4 was bent forward with dilatation of the posterior subarachnoid space. Computed tomographic myelogram revealed an anterior displacement of the spinal cord without apparent mass. We describe a case of this rare disease focusing on unique clinical and radiological characteristics. Although it is not common, idiopathic spinal cord herniation should be recognized as one of the possible causes for thoracic myelopathy.

Keywords: Idiopathic spinal cord herniation.Myelopathy