Summary
A dermoid is a congenital tumour. An intraspinal dermoid tumour is very rare. Most reported cases have been in children. The oldest case in literature was 40 years old.
We report a case in which a 46 years old woman had a thoracolumbar intraspinal dermoid. The dermoid was partially removed by operation. The condition of the patient improved. Control MR-scan showed that the remaining tumour extended up to the level of the tenth thoracic vertebra.
If radical tumour removal is difficult, e.g. due to strong capsuletissue adherence or long tumour extension, it seems to be advísable not to force radicality but to follow the clinical course and to reoperate if tumour growth causes new symptoms.
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Buchwald, C., Børgesen, S.E. Intraspinal thoracolumbar dermoid. Acta neurochir 101, 163–164 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01410533
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01410533