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Long-term results of surgical treatment of spinal lipomas

Report of 18 cases

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Summary

We report the long-term results of surgery on spinal lipomas in a series of 18 patients. Four patients had congenital lipomas with spina bifida and/or myelomeningocele and the other fourteen had tumoural (true) lipomas. Simple decompression or subtotal removal afforded a very good prognosis in all patients with intradural lipomas whose preoperative neurological deficits were slight. In the light of the long follow-up, the lack of difference in biological behaviour between congenital and tumoural (true) lipomas leads us to regard the two types as a single maldevelopmental entity of dysembryogenetic origin.

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Lunardi, P., Missori, P., Ferrante, L. et al. Long-term results of surgical treatment of spinal lipomas. Acta neurochir 104, 64–68 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01842896

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