Recurrent thoracic intramedullary schwannoma: report of two cases with long term follow up

Abstract

Occurrence of intramedullary schwannomas is rare as Schwann cells are generally present in the nerve root and not in the spinal cord. To date, approximately around 60 cases of intramedullary schwannoma in patients without neurofibromatosis have been reported in the English literature, of which only eight were children. We describe two cases of thoracic intramedullary schwannomas that recurred after primary excision. A 10 years old boy presented with weakness of both lower limbs. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a D10 to D12 intramedullary lesion, which was excised near totally and confirmed to be a schwannoma on histopathological examination. The tumour recurred twice after that and was re operated both times. Another 57 years old lady presented with weakness of both lower limbs and a history of being operated in the past for D9-D10 intramedullary lesion. She was re-operated with total removal of the lesion confirmed to be schwannoma on histopathological examination. Intramedullary schwannoma may recur after resection.

Keywords:

• Intramedullary tumours
• schwannoma
• thoracic spinal cord

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Uttara Chatterjee for her help in histopathological aspects of the cases.