title: Atypical vertebral artery in a patient with an intra-and extraspinal cervical neurenteric cyst.
abstract: A 15 year old girl experienced Horner's syndrome on the right side, paraesthesia of the right arm and meningitis. CT and MRI showed a cystic lesion on the right side of the cervical spine at C3/C4 which descended with an extraspinal portion down to C6. Histology revealed a complex neurenteric cyst. The ipsilateral vertebral artery showed an atypical course. This abnormal artery besides a partial fusion of the vertebrae C2/C3/C4 suggest a complex malformation at the site of the cyst. Disturbed developmental relationships in this case indicate that pathological blood vessels may represent a risk factor in the surgical treatment of neurenteric cysts.
authors.affiliation: Neurological Institute, University of Vienna Medical School, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmidbauer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reinprecht
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wimberger
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kollegger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001845:Bone Cysts / Q000150:complications*; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012307:Risk Factors; D013122:Spinal Diseases / Q000150:complications; D014711:Vertebral Artery / Q000002:abnormalities*