Posterior epidural migration of free disc fragments is rare, and posterior migration of the free fragments causing cauda equina syndrome is exceptionally rare. This report describes a 53-year-old man with disc fragment extrusion at the levels of L3-4 and a 54-year-old man with disc fragment extrusion at L5-S1 intervertebral space. The patients responded well to the operative therapy with comple...

Extraadrenal paragangliomas involving the spine is less common and usually takes the form of intradural compression of the cauda equina. The authors report three cases of spinal paragangliomas resulting in extradural spinal cord compression and their MR findings. The MR imaging revealed a well-demarcated extradural mass with low to intermediate signal intensity on T1-weighted images and interme...

We present a rare case of acute onset cauda equina syndrome caused by a ruptured myxopapillary ependymoma with accompanying hemorrhage. A 26-year-old healthy woman developed muscle weakness and sensory disturbances in her bilateral lower extremities. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a huge mass from the L1 body to the L2-3 disc level. She was able to ambulate with crutches after the tumor was ...

The cauda equina is composed of the lumbosacral and the coccygeal nerve roots and the filum terminale. In the embryonic period, discrepancy in development between the termination of the spinal cord and the spinal column results in elongation of the nerve roots as well as the filum terminale in this region. Although the vascular anatomy of the caudal spinal structure shares many common features ...

Sir,—We thank Dr Sinton for his detailed comments on our case report. The combined spinal-extradural was used to provide analgesia for vaginal examination and rupture of membranes in this woman with a known low lying placenta. In our experience, this technique provides excellent sacral analgesia without motor block, which is obviously undesirable in early labour. We apologize that full details ...

Although schwannomas are common spinal tumors with insidious presentations, acute neurological deterioration is an extremely rare manifestation that can occur in the setting of tumor torsion and infarction. The present case reports an unusual presentation of a spinal schwannoma that underwent torsion and infarction. A 65-year-old male presented initially with acute radicular pain progressing to...

Lumbar synovial cyst arises from the facet joint and can lead to back pain, radiculopathy, neurogenic claudication or even cauda equina syndrome. Although most surgeons would consider surgery to be the treatment of choice, the natural history of the disease process remains unknown and uncertainty still exists regarding optimal management of this controversial entity. We illustrate a case of lar...

An 83 years old physician, doing only office work and no exercise, presented with cauda equine, due to a large intervertebral disk hernia between L1-L2 vertebrae, after an unorthodox movement. He also had a facet syndrome, a muscular spasm in the gluteus, a small fracture in the periphery of the body of the L2 vertebra and pain in the L4-L5, due to a previous vertebral hernia five years ago. Al...

The nerve roots of the cauda equina may be visualised by contrast-enhanced CT scans and by surface-coil MRI. We have identified the pattern of anatomy from L2-L3 to L5-S1 in 10 human cadaver specimens and correlated this with anatomical dissections. Individual roots are slightly more distinct on contrast-enhanced CT than on surface-coil MRI. There is a crescentic oblique pattern of nerve roots ...

AIM Posterior epidural migration of a sequestered lumbar intervertebral disc fragment (PEMSLIDF) is an extremely rare condition published so far only as case reports or small case series (ranging between 2 to 8 cases). Diagnosing this condition is often challenging and the diagnosis is usually made intraoperatively. The affected patients usually suffer cauda equina syndrome (CES). In the presen...