Long Segment Spinal Dural Cyst: A Case Report.

Abstract

Spinal meningeal cysts are a rare benign disease that can cause myelopathy. In most cases, spinal meningeal cysts consist of an arachnoid membrane. To the best of our knowledge, few articles have report on intradural spinal meningeal cyst consisting of dura mater. A 58-year-old man presented to our institute with aggravation of clumsy hands and dysesthesia of the feet. Magnetic resonance imaging of the entire spine revealed a cystic lesion compressing the spinal cord posteriorly. Cyst fenestration and placement of the cyst-subarachnoid shunt was performed via an anterior approach. Postoperatively, the histopathologic results revealed that the cyst wall consisted of a dura mater-like membrane. The patient's symptoms resolved without the appearance of any new neurologic deficits. The etiology of spinal meningeal cysts remains unclear. Spinal meningeal cysts consisting of dura mater (spinal dural cysts) are extremely rare. Treatment with only decompression with laminectomy causes enlargement of the dural cyst later. Cyst fenestration and placement of a cyst-subarachnoid shunt for the spinal dural cyst resulted in the resolution of myelopathy and cyst shrinkage.