Acute Onset Paraplegia Due to Thoracic Angiolipoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract
Author Affiliations 1Department of Neurosurgery,ÇubukHalilŞıvgın State Hospital,Turkey 2Department of Neurosurgery,Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Turkey 3Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Turkey 4Department of Neurosurgery,Faculty of Medicine, Turkey Received: April 11, 2020 | Published: April 23, 2020 Corresponding author: Öcal Özgür, Department of Neurosurgery, Ankara Bilkent City Hospital, Ankara, Turkey DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2020.27.004464 Background: Spinal angiolipomas are rare and benign tumors which are composed of mature adipose tissue and blood vessels. Thoracic epidural region is the most common location of spinal angiolipomas. Clinical Description: A 51-year-old female presented with chronical back pain for 1 year. There was no pregnancy, trauma or another pathological history. Lumbar stabilization was performed at another hospital for spondylolisthesis. After 2 months of operation, the patient suffered from acute onset paraplegia. Radiological examination referred that extradural lesion located at T6-T9 level which was causing severe spinal cord compression. T7-T8 hemilaminectomy performed without disruption of the facet joint. And extradural adipose-like tumor was removed totally. Motor improvement achieved immediately after operation. And complete neurological recovery achieved at post-operative 48 hours. Conclusion: Hemodynamic or adipose tissue alterations may trigger acute neurological deterioration at the spinal angiolipomas. In our case patient had a weight gain history after first operation. MRI is essential diagnostic tool for these lesions. Surgical treatment for spinal angiolipomas has good outcomes even in subtotal resection and/or at the complete paraplegia. Keywords: Spinal Angiolipoma; Spinal Extradural Tumor; Paraplegia