Unique Imaging Features of Spinal Neurenteric Cyst

A 50-year-old male presented with acutely progressed paraplegia. His magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated two well-demarcated components with opposite signals in one cystic lesion between the T1- and T2-weighted images at the T1 spine level. The patient showed immediately improved neurological symptoms after surgical intervention and the histopathological exam was compatible with a neurenteric cyst. On operation, two different viscous drainages from the cyst were confirmed. A unique similarity of image findings was found from a review of the pertinent literature. The common findings of spinal neurenteric cyst include an isointense or mildly hyperintense signal relative to cerebrospinal fluid for both T1- and T2-weighted images. However, albeit rarer, the signals of some part of the cyst could change into brightly hyperintensity on T1-weighted images and hypointensity on T2-weighted images due to the differing sedimentation of the more viscous contents in the cyst.

A Case of Retroperitoneal Neuroenteric Cyst / 대한비뇨기과학회지

Neuroenteric cyst derives from endodermal tissue displaced dorsally into the spinal canal ventral to the neural plaque through the interposed mesodermal layer that forms the vertebral bodies, embryologically. It is located along the alimentary canal, or ventral to the spinal cord in the cervical, thoracic area, or at the cervicothoracic junction within the boundaries of C3 above and T7 below and lies in an intramedullary or intradural extramedullary location in most patients. To date, retroperitoneal neuroenteric cyst has been described in only few cases. We report a case of asymptomatic retroperitoneal neuroenteric cyst in a 28-year-old man with a brief review of literatures, which found incidentally on health care center.