RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Chordomas are rare benign, but locally aggressive tumors that are regularly encountered in the clivus and sacrum. Although they are rarely found in the thoracic spine, they can contribute not only to local bone destruction and spinal instability, lead to cord compression, and major neurological deficits. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 56 year-old-male originally underwent a T12 laminectomy with debulking for a thoracic chordoma. Two years later, the lesion recurred contributing to a significant paraparesis. The new MR showed a T2 hyper intense lesion with huge epidural extension that warranted a 360° surgical decompression and fusion. The histopathology from both surgeries confirmed the diagnosis of a chordoma. CONCLUSION: Combined 360° decompression and fusion was warranted to resect a T12 chordoma that recurred 2 years following an original laminectomy with debulking procedure.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Thoracic complications of ventriculoperitoneal (VP) cerebrospinal fluid shunting are rare and the diagnosis is difficult without neurological impairment. CASE DESCRIPTION: We report a case of a 36-year-old woman who had a VP shunt in the right side when she was 13 years for a posterior fossa ependymoma and hydrocephalus. 23 years after surgery, she developed acute yellowfish cough and sputum, and the computed tomography scan found an intrathoracic cyst. She had a thoracotomy for the cyst and during surgery, we found the peritoneal catheter of the VP shunt, with a collected abscess in the left side. The patient was treated for the abscess and the VP shunt was removed. We also review the literature cases of thoracic complications after VP shunts. CONCLUSION: Thoracic abscess due to VP shunt migration is extremely rare and could happen after a long time delay VP shunt surgery.
