A 59 year old man with prostatic carcinoma developed epidural compression of the cauda equina caused by bony expansion from a vertebral osteoblastic metastasis. For medical reasons he could not undergo radiation or surgery. Hormonal therapy alone relieved his low back pain and restored ambulation and urinary function. Postmyelography CT showed that the bony expansion from the vertebra had compl...

A variety of mammalian species have been used in studies of epididymal function. The knowledge gained from these laboratory and domestic species has been applied to the human as well, but the anatomy and biology of the human epididymis is not commonly investigated directly. Nonpathological specimens from men within their reproductive years are understandably difficult to obtain, and even when s...

A 73-year-old man who presented with right lumbosciatic pain underwent a neurosurgical operation for a voluminous L2-L3 disc herniation, seen on conventional MRI images. No disc herniation was identified in the epidural space during the surgery. Just after the operation, the patient started to present pain in the left L3 territory and was not able to walk any more. A second MRI including three-...

Paraganglioma affecting the cauda equina region is very rare and can be misinterpreted as an ependymoma which is more common at this site. A 38-year-old woman with a paraganglioma in the cauda equina is presented. MRI revealed a well-circumscribed, intradural, extramedullary tumor nodule with the dimensions of 2.5x1x1 cm. The patient underwent L3 laminectomy and total excision o...

The present study aimed to compare the in vitro fertilizing capacity of frozen-thawed ejaculated and epididymal spermatozoa in order to standardize the semen preparation protocol for camel in vitro fertilization (IVF). Semen samples were collected from 7 Dromedary camels by means of artificial vagina (AV). Ten cauda epididymes were obtained from slaughtered adult camels, isolated, incised and r...

BACKGROUND Cauda equina syndrome occurring as a result of spontaneous spinal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) from a spinal tumor is reported to be rare. CASE DESCRIPTION A 28-year-old woman presented at our clinic with a history of severe back pain for 10 days, progressive paraparesis, and urinary retention. Her physical examination revealed a mass located intradurally at the level of L1-2 and ...

The authors present distinctive computed tomographic (CT) findings in two cases of long-standing ankylosing spondylitis accompanied by the cauda equina syndrome. Multiple, asymmetric erosions of the posterior elements of the lumbar spine on CT were correlated with thecal diverticula demonstrated by myelography. The pathogenesis of these erosions may be related to arachnoiditis in the early phas...

Cauda equina syndrome is an unusual complication of ankylosing spondylitis. We present a case of a 68-year-old woman with long-standing ankylosing spondylitis who developed cauda equina syndrome. MRI revealed a characteristic widening of the lumbosacral thecal sac and numerous dorsal thecal diverticula. MRI is a powerful, noninvasive tool to confirm the diagnosis and exclude a treatable compres...

BACKGROUND Lumbar puncture (LP) rarely results in complications such as spinal hematomas. However, it remains unclear if certain variables increase likelihood of these events, or if surgical intervention improves outcome. METHODS In addition to two clinical vignettes, we evaluated the post-1974 literature for cases of spinal hematoma and subsequent intervention. Based on our compilation of da...

Lumbar intervertebral disc herniation with radiculopathy (LDHR) is one of the most common clinical entities seen by spine practitioners. Good clinical outcomes have been reported for both surgical and non-operative treatment of lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy. In the absence of cauda equina syndrome, initial treatment is nonoperative, with approximately 50–60% of patients reporting sa...