Spinal Neurenteric Cyst of Foregut Origin

ABSTRACT

The neurenteric cyst with associated anomalies is the result of an ectoentodermal communication that exists during embryogenesis. The variety of lesions include intraspinal cysts, congenital vertebral deformities, thoracic cyst, malformations of the digestive tract, and occasionally, dysrhaphias of the sinodermal or myelomeningocele type. A case of intraspinal neurenteric cyst in a 3-year-old boy is presented. He presented with cyclic abdominal pain, fever and constipation of 30 days' duration. These symptoms progressed rapidly into gait disturbance and left hemiplegia. A single epithelial cyst, located ventral to the spinal cord in the lower thoracic region, traversed the cleft of spina bifida of thoracic vertebrae and connected to retromediastinal cyst. The inner cyst wall was lined with pseudostratified ciliated epithelia and a few squamous cells. The cyst wall contained well-developed muscle coat, myenteric plexuses, and scattered seromucinous glands.