title: Solitary thoracic osteochondroma: case report and review of the literature.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.
authors.forename: Priscilla
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brastianos
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pradilla
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: McCarthy
authors.forename: Ziya L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Gokaslan
mesh_terms: 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