Solitary thoracic osteochondroma: case report and review of the literature.
OBJECTIVE
Osteochondromas are common benign bone tumors that rarely arise in the vertebral column. Intraspinal presentation of these tumors is usually circumscribed to the cervical regions with few tumors presenting in the thoracic vertebrae. We report a case of a thoracic solitary osteochondroma arising from within the vertebral body, review the cases reported in the literature, and propose recommendations for the surgical management of these challenging lesions.


METHODS
A 26-year-old woman presented with clinical signs of spinal cord compression consisting of right lower extremity weakness and left lower extremity numbness. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a small enhancing epidural mass behind the vertebral body of T12.


METHODS
A T12 corpectomy was performed with thoracolumbar fixation and fusion.


CONCLUSIONS
Our case is atypical in that the tumor arose from the posterior portion of the T12 body, causing spinal cord dysfunction that necessitated an anterior approach to T12 for corpectomy with thoracolumbar fixation and fusion. Surgical intervention was effective in completely resolving the patient's right lower extremity weakness.
Brastianos
Priscilla
P
Department of Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.
Pradilla
Gustavo
G
McCarthy
Edward
E
Gokaslan
Ziya L
ZL
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007796:Laminectomy / Q000379:methods; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D009984:Orthopedic Fixation Devices; D015831:Osteochondroma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013125:Spinal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D013904:Thoracic Vertebrae / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods