Spinal Cord Compression Due to Tophaceous Vertebral Gout: A Case Report.

Gout tophi are deposits of urate crystals in subcutaneous tissues and joints which commonly affect the small joints of the feet and hands, causing painful arthritis. The axial skeleton is considered to be seldom affected by gout arthritis. Here we describe the clinical, MRI, and pathologic findings of a 61-year-old male patient with a previous diagnosis of gout who presented with progressive paraparesis and radicular pain. MRI showed extradural masses compressing the spinal cord and roots at two spinal levels. Two surgical interventions were performed to remove these extradural masses, which were pathologically identified as gout tophi. Pain and paraparesis had clinical improvement after surgery. This report highlights that gout can be a cause of paraparesis.

Manejo quirúrgico en un paciente con neurofibromatosis tipo 1 / Surgical management in a patient with neurofibromatosis type 1

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo dar a conocer el manejo de una paciente con una enfermedad genética del grupo de las facomatosis, con predominio de lesiones espinales. Se trata de una mujer de la tercera edad, que durante su desarrollo infantil y puberal le aparecieron lesiones cutáneas en forma de manchas y tumores pediculados distribuidos en todo el cuerpo; posteriormente se instauró una paraparesia espástica. A los 3 años de encamada se ingresó en Instituto Superior de Medicina Militar "Dr. Luis Díaz Soto" y se estudió. La resonancia magnética nuclear realizada diagnosticó 2 lesiones hiperintensas intrarraquídeas, una de localización cervical que le ocasionaba compresión medular, por lo cual se le realizó una laminectomía con exéresis de la lesión y la consiguiente recuperación neurológica. La paciente volvió a caminar, recuperó sensibilidad propioceptiva y se encuentra pendiente de la intervención de la otra lesión en región craneoespinal. El informe patológico concluyó neurofibroma. Con este caso presentado se demuestra que la resección de los neurofibromas espinales en los pacientes con neurofibromatosis tipo I, permite una recuperación de las funciones neurológicas afectadas por el compromiso neural.

This paper is aimed at making known the management of a female patient with a genetic disease of the phacomatosys group, with predominance of spinal injuries. This elderly woman during her childhood and puberty presented skin lesions in the form of spots and pediculated tumors all over her body. Later on, she developed a spastic paraparesia. Alter being bedridden for 3 years, she was admitted at "Dr. Luis Díaz Soto" Higher Military Medicine Institute to be studied. Two intrarachidian hypertensive lesions were diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging. One of them was a cervical lesion that caused her a medullary compression that was treated by laminectomy with exeresis of the lesion and the subsequent neurological recovery. The patient walked again and recovered her proprioceptive sensitivity and she has to be operated on of the other lesion in the craniospinal region. The pathological report confirmed the existence of a neurofibroma. On presenting this case, it was proved that the resection of the spinal neurofibroma in patients with type I neurofibromatosis allows a recovery of the neurological functions affected by the neural compromise.