A cervico-dorsal intramedullary epidermoid cyst. Case report and review of the literature.

Intramedullary epidermoid cysts are rarely observed. Only a little more than 30 cases have been reported in the literature. The authors have treated a 51 year-old woman with a cervico-dorsal intramedullary epidermoid tumor associated with a syringomyelia. The frequency of this lesion, its CT and MRI appearance and the possibility of a preoperative diagnosis are discussed.

Traumatic fractures of the craniovertebral junction. Management of 23 cases.

Twenty-three consecutive cases of traumatic C1-C2 fractures treated at the Department of Neurosurgery, University of Milano, are reported. Of these there were 13 cases of odontoid fractures, 6 hangman fractures, 2 anterior inferior corner fractures, 2 atlas-axis combination fractures and 2 Jefferson fractures. Almost all the patients were young people involved in motor vehicle accidents. Nineteen patients were treated with external immobilization (halo vest, Minerva) for 3-6 months while 4 odontoid fractures underwent early surgical posterior stabilization. At follow-up, 20 patients had a good fusion while 3, aged over 75 years, died due to cardiopulmonary or septic complications. The appropriate management of this type of lesion is still a matter of discussion. In our opinion the Halo device allows good stabilization after correct fracture reduction.

Cervical vertebral erosion due to tortuous vertebral artery.

A case of cervical vertebral erosion due to tortuous vertebral artery is presented. This entity is rare and only 11 cases have been reported in the literature. The present case is the first to be demonstrated by magnetic resonance imaging. The importance of considering this vascular anomaly in the differential diagnosis of cervical spinal tumors is discussed.

[Radiotherapy of brain tumors in childhood]. / Radioterapia dei tumori cerebrali nell'infanzia.

External radiotherapy with high energy photons in children's brain tumors improves results of surgical treatment according to their histology. Radiotherapy treatment is a decisive factor in survival time and quality of life. Undifferentiated tumors with high radiosensitivity are treated when radiotherapy is the only means for recovery; tumors presenting histologically low malignancy in which effective radiotherapy treatment is uncertain and the risk of radiotherapy damage is the predominant factor. Radiotherapists who treat children's brains which in many cases are not yet totally myelinized , must have good technical ability. Literature and personal experience show that in medulloblastomas irradiation of the entire central nervous system associated with chemotherapy gives a survival time of 5 years in 50% of the cases; in glioblastomas and anaplastic astrocytomas, fortunately rare in children, results are poor; in brainstem tumors the association of the extracranial shunt to radiotherapy has improved results of survival time at 5 years to 50%. A good quality of life is frequent and radiological effects are rare. It is clear that radiotherapy has reached its maximum. Progress is still to be made thanks to discoveries of more effective radiosensitizer or radioprotector compounds.

[Epidural venography in the diagnosis of lumbar disease (author's transl)]. / La flebografia epidurale nella diagnostica strumentale delle lombo-sciatalgie.

80 patients with back pain and sciatalgia were studied by plain-film of lumbosacral spine, radiculography and epidural phlebography; 30 of them were surgically controlled. Radiculographic and phlebographic specimens were compared and phlebography showed more sensibility and specificity in the study of extradural pathology. The analysis of the phlebographic alterations suggested a semeiologic criterion we think that could be usefully used in the study of osteoligamentous lesions in lumbosacral spine.