Thoracic Spinal Epidural Angiolipoma -A Case Report

• Published in: Orthopedics & Traumatology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 41 - 45
• Main Authors: Sumida, Tadayoshi, Ohishi, Yoshiaki, Toki, Akiko, Nishida, Koji, Baba, Itsushi, Sato, Shu, Ishida, Akihisa, Hayashi, Yuzo, Okuda, Teruaki, Kitahira, Hiroshi, Murakami, Takeshi, Manabe, Hideki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: West-Japanese Society of Orthopedics & Traumatology 1999
• Subjects: Epidural tumor; infiltrating angiolipoma; magnetic resonance imaging
• ISSN: 0037-1033; 1349-4333; 1349-4333
• DOI: 10.5035/nishiseisai.48.41

Spinal angiolipoma is a rare benign tumor. In the past, authors classified spinal lipomas and angiolipoma together, but now angiolipomas are considered a separate entity from lipomas. The majority of spinal angiolipomas are of the noninfiltrating epidural type, but some are of the infiltrating type including our case and a few cases are intramedullary. Infiltrating angiolipomas extend into the bony compartment of the vertebral column or the thoracic cavity. We experienced a case of epidural angiolipoma infiltrating into the Th3 vertebral body. A 65 year-old male experienced difficulty in controlling his lower limbs. MRI revealed a spindle mass at the level of Th2 to Th4. The lesion was isointense on T1-weighted image and hyperintense on T2-weighted image. After Gd-DTPA, it was enhanced. Resecting the tumor by osteoplastic laminectomy improved the clinical symptoms.