Study of the clinical features and radiological findings for thoracic communicating arachnoid cysts

Abstract

We analyzed retrospectively, the usefulness of the radiological examinations for 15 cases of communicating arachnoid cysts in thoracic lesions experienced by our department over the last 12 years. Seven men and eight women (age range 32-71 years, mean age 53.8 years) were analyzed. Their symptoms on admission were sensory disturbance of the legs (13 cases), leg weakness (4 cases), back pain (4 cases), and truncal abnormal sensations (2 cases), etc. We performed myelography in 12 patients, and an additional 5 patients were diagnosed by this examination. CT-myelography showed deformity of the spinal cord, deviation of the spinal cord and enlargement of the subarachnoid space in all 12 patients. The axial view in 1.0T weighted MRI showed the same findings as CT-myelography. However, the cine 1.0T weighted MRI seemed to be insufficient to detect any spinal arachnoid cysts. As the results of their operations, 13 patients improved, 2 patients remained unchanged, and no cases become worse. The clinical and radiological diagnosis for communicating arachnoid cysts is not easy. Neurological examinations and radiological examinations with detailed readings are essential to obtain a correct diagnosis, when considering the possibility of the disease.