Multiplication of infantile spinal lipomas after surgical untethering. Report of two cases.

Abstract

The authors reviewed 63 cases of patients with spinal lipomas who had undergone surgical untethering in childhood and found two infants in whom multiplication of the lipomas occurred within 1 year postoperatively. More importantly, the lipomas dramatically increased in size during infancy. In each case, the pathological findings on reoperation were identical to those in the first surgery. Subsequent imaging revealed no change in size of the lesions by 10 and 7 years after reoperation, respectively. This potential for growth of the lipomas should be kept in mind in infants with spinal lipomas who should undergo follow-up neuroimaging.