Illustrative resection of mixed intra- and extramedullary thoracic spinal cord capillary hemangioma

Matthew Protas; Disep I Ojukwu; Dan Y Draytsel; Michael A Galgano

doi:10.25259/SNI_402_2023

Illustrative resection of mixed intra- and extramedullary thoracic spinal cord capillary hemangioma

Surg Neurol Int. 2023 Jun 30:14:226. doi: 10.25259/SNI_402_2023. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Matthew Protas¹, Disep I Ojukwu², Dan Y Draytsel¹, Michael A Galgano^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, New York, United States.
² St. George's University, School of Medicine, Great River, New York, United States.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States.

Abstract

Background: Capillary hemangiomas are typically superficial benign tumors of the cutaneous and mucosal tissues of the face and neck in pediatric patients. In adults, they typically occur in middle-aged males who present with pain, myelopathy, radiculopathy, paresthesias, and bowel/bladder dysfunction. The optimal treatment for intramedullary spinal cord capillary hemangiomas is gross total/en bloc resection.

Methods: Here, we present a 63-year-old male with increasing right greater than left lower extremity numbness/ weakness, attributed to a T8-9 mixed intra- and extramedullary capillary hemangioma.

Results: One year following complete lesion resection, the patient used an assistive device to ambulate and continued to improve neurologically.

Conclusion: We presented a 63-year-old male whose paraparesis was attributed to a T8-9 mixed intra- and extramedullary capillary hemangioma who did well following total en bloc lesion resection. In addition to this case study/technical note, we provide a 2-D intraoperative video detailing the resection technique.

Keywords: Intradural capillary hemangioma; Mixed intramedullary extramedullary capillary hemangioma; Neurosurgery; Spinal tumor surgical video; Thoracic spinal cord.