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CASE REPORT article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgical Oncology
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1422958
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring the Potential for Advancements in Spinal Neurosurgery: Revolutionizing Treatment Pathways and Improving Quality of Life View all 17 articles

Intramedullary schwannoma of conus medullaris with syringomyelia:a case report and literature review

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 Other, 哈尔滨, China
  • 2 Department of Neurosurgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
  • 3 Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 4 Department of Neurology, Heilongjiang Provincial Hospital, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Intramedullary schwannomas in the conus medullaris are very rare and are usually not associated with syringomyelia. We report a unique case of intramedullary schwannoma in the conus medullaris with long-segment syringomyelia. The patient was a 60-year-old male, initially presenting with left dorsalgia, subsequently developing weakness in the right lower extremity. As the symptoms progressed, the patient exhibited ataxia in gait, accompanied by sphincter insufficiency and voiding dysfunction. Lumbar MRI revealed the presence of two tumors at the L3 and T11-L1 levels, accompanied by syringomyelia extending from T4 to T10. During surgery, it was determined that the tumor located at the T11-L1 vertebral level was intramedullary, whereas the tumor situated at the L3 level exhibited an extramedullary intradural configuration. Pathological examination conclusively identified both the intramedullary and extramedullary tumors as schwannomas. Although intramedullary schwannomas at the conus medullaris are very rare, schwannoma remains a diagnosis that cannot be ignored when facing patients with intramedullary tumors with syringomyelia. Intramedullary schwannoma can have a good neurological prognosis after surgical treatment.

    Keywords: Intramedullary schwannoma, Syringomyelia, Conus medullaris, surgical treatment, Case report Intramedullary schwannoma, case report

    Received: 26 Apr 2024; Accepted: 11 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Guo, Wang, Wang, Han, Meng, Chen and Mu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xiaofeng Chen, Department of Neurosurgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China
    Qingchun Mu, Department of Neurosurgery, Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

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