Abstract
Intramedullary schwannomas are very rare. Most studies on intramedullary schwannomas have been case reports with literature reviews. This study presented a surgical series of ten patients with histologically proven intramedullary schwannomas. From 1995 to 2010, ten patients (2.7 %) presented with intramedullary schwannomas out of 365 patients with spinal schwannomas. Their clinical and radiological findings and operative records were reviewed. There were 6 female and 4 male patients with a mean age of 45.5 years. The mean follow-up period was 75.7 months. Three tumors were located in the cervical spine and 7 were located in the thoracic spine. Intraoperatively, the tumor was connected with the dorsal rootlet in 4 cases and with the ventral rootlet in 1 case. Gross total resection (GTR) of the tumor with a well-demarcated dissection plane was achieved in 8 cases and subtotal resection (STR) was achieved in 2 cases. The current status of all the patients was improved compared to the preoperative presentation at last follow-up and the symptoms present before the surgery were improved in all the cases at last follow-up. The postoperative follow-up magnetic resonance imaging showed no recurrence in the 8 GTR cases during the follow-up period of 83.5 months on average. No interval change in residual tumors was observed in the 2 STR cases (45- and 55-month follow-up periods). Intramedullary schwannomas are amenable to surgery. It is possible to achieve GTR of intramedullary schwannomas that have a well-demarcated dissection plane. Additionally, a good clinical outcome after GTR can be expected.
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Sung-Hye Park, MD, PhD from the Department of Pathology, Seoul National College of Medicine for doing the pathological examinations. This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (2012-0000996).
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The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings described in this paper. No benefits in any form have been or will be received from any commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this manuscript.
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Lee, S.E., Chung, C.K. & Kim, HJ. Intramedullary schwannomas: long-term outcomes of ten operated cases. J Neurooncol 113, 75–81 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1091-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-013-1091-9