Clinics in diagnostic imaging (181). Cervical spine perineural cysts

ABSTRACT

A 47-year-old woman who underwent resection of known spinal meningioma at the T1 level returned for postoperative magnetic resonance imaging of the cervical spine. Incidentally, thin-walled structures with signal intensities that are similar to those of cerebrospinal fluid were found to be present in the left neural exit canal at the C7-T1 level and bilateral neural exit canals at the C6-7 level. Imaging findings were in keeping with perineural cysts. Cervical spine perineural cysts are likely underreported, as most of them are asymptomatic. The imaging features and differential diagnoses of perineural cysts are discussed in this article.