title: Totally cystic intradural extramedullary schwannoma.
abstract: Totally cystic intradural extramedullary lesions are uncommon and form a different spectrum of conditions as compared to the commonly seen intradural extramedullary tumors. Spinal schwannomas are benign tumors arising from spinal nerve root sheaths and are the most common intradural extramedullary spinal tumors. Though cystic changes in schwannomas are well described, most spinal schwannomas are solid or heterogeneous solid tumors and a totally cystic schwannoma is uncommon. The authors describes a case of totally cystic intradural extramedullary schwannoma and stress the importance of complete contrast imaging to differentiate this rare but almost completely curable tumor from other common intradural cystic lesions of the spine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Neurosciences Centre All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Manish Kumar
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Kasliwal
authors.forename: Shashank S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kale
authors.forename: Bhawani Shanker
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Vaishali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Suri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D017116:Low Back Pain / Q000209:etiology; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D018297:Neoplasms, Cystic, Mucinous, and Serous / Q000473:pathology*; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000473:pathology*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000473:pathology; D013120:Spinal Cord Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*