[Spinal cord compression secondary to epidural extramedullary hematopoiesis in thalassemia: a clinical case and review of literature]. / Compresión medular secundaria a hematopoyesis extramedular epidural en talasemia: caso clínico y revisión de la literatura.

INTRODUCTION: Extramedullary hematopoiesis generally occurs in a variety of hematological disorders where the normal functioning of the blood forming organs is disturbed. It is a common manifestation in thalassemia where it occurs as a compensatory phenomenon in order to combat long standing anemia. Spinal cord compression as a consequence of extramedullary hematopoiesis in the intraspinal epidural space is an extremely rare complication, though this complication has been reported more commonly in thalassemia. CLINICAL CASE: A case of spinal cord compression due to extramedullary hematopoiesis in a patient with thalassemia is reported. The patient was successfully treated with radiation therapy and blood transfusions and he made a complete clinical recovery. Development. The literature is reviewed and the efficacy of several treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy and blood transfusion therapy is discussed. Until recently surgical decompression followed by radiation therapy remained the recommended treatment. Hematopoietic tissue is particularly sensitive to the ionizing radiation and low-dose radiotherapy is enough to relieve the spinal cord compression. Blood transfusion therapy may be diagnostically and therapeutically useful in the management of this entity. CONCLUSIONS: A prompt recognition of the syndrome and early treatment with radiotherapy and blood transfusion therapy is recommended to prevent irreversible damage to the spinal cord. Surgery may be only considered in the event of progressive neurological deficit despite of radiotherapy or blood transfusion therapy.

Intracerebral arachnoidal cyst containing choroid plexus. Case report.

A case of an intracerebral "primary" arachnoidal cyst of the left fronto-parietal region is reported. No communication with the ventricular system or with subarachnoidal space was found at the first surgical procedure. It contained genuine choroid plexus and clinically behaved as an expansive intracranial mass.

Regeneration of the spinal ventral roots. An experimental study in cats.

From a clinical standpoint recovery of spinal nerve roots is less likely than that of peripheral nerves, despite their identical structures. This may be due to several factors including the length of gap to be bridged, changes in the proximal stump or neuroma, and chromatolysis. In this paper we discuss the roles of some of these factors in relation to the neuronal depopulation in the spinal cord anterior horn area following section of the anterior root. The lack of growth or the successful growth of the axon through the gap in the root influences the degree of depopulation in the anterior horn area.