Single-Staged Management of Pediatric Neuropathic Scoliosis with Intradural-Extramedullary Schwannoma and Improvement in Intraoperative Neuromonitoring: A Case Report.

CASE: A 16-year-old girl with lumbar prominence presented to our outpatient clinic complaining of sporadic back pain without paresthesia. Radiographic investigation revealed a 68° left thoracolumbar curve with the apex at L1. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging identified a mass at T10-11, subsequently confirmed by pathology as a schwannoma. She was treated surgically with resection and posterior spinal fusion in a single-staged procedure under neuromonitoring guidance. Intraoperative improvement in motor evoked potentials after resection informed the decision to perform simultaneous deformity correction. CONCLUSION: We discuss the unusual coincidence of a schwannoma with scoliosis and our management algorithm based on operative changes in neuromonitoring.

Novel Use of Subcostal Polyethylene Bands to Manage Tumor-Related Scoliosis Requiring Serial Imaging: A Case Report.

CASE: A 16-year-old male patient with severe kyphoscoliosis, paraplegia, and neurogenic bowel/bladder caused by a juvenile pilocytic astrocytoma was treated surgically using a hybrid fusion construct with polyethylene bands after neoplasm resection. Owing to the necessity of serial postoperative magnetic resonance imaging studies to evaluate the recurrence of pathology and known effect of metal artifact from spinal instrumentation, preservation of radiographic resolution was critical. CONCLUSION: We describe the novel utility of polyethylene bands placed around the ribs as a safe and effective form of hybrid construct for reducing radiographic metal artifact in spinal deformity cases requiring serial imaging.