RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Before the introduction of high-resolution MR, few disc fragments were misdiagnosed as meningiomas. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 63-year-old female presented with a 6-month history of mild to moderate pain in the left arm, weakness 4/5 in the left arm C5-C6 distribution, and a loss of the left biceps reflex response. Although the MR study was read as showing a C5-C6 level probable spinal meningioma, this proved to be a sequestrated disc fragment at surgery. CONCLUSION: Rarely, cervical disc herniations may be misdiagnosed on MR studies as spinal meningiomas.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Chordomas are malignant tumors that arise from the remnants of the notochord. Complete en bloc radical resection with postoperative radiation therapy is currently considered the gold standard. Here, we performed a 360-staged approach to manage a C3-C4 chordoma that involved the right vertebral artery. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 40-year-old woman presented with a C3-C4 chordoma that invaded the right vertebral artery. She responded well to a circumferential approach including resection and stabilization. CONCLUSION: A 40-year-old woman with a C3-C4 spinal chordoma was optimally managed with a combined anterior/posterior surgical approach including decompression/fusion.
