Delayed Myelopathy After Trivial Neck Injury in a Patient With a Cervical Neurenteric Cyst

Abstract

Neurenteric cysts are rare spinal lesions of congenital origin. They usually present insidiously with a long history of local spinal pain, radiculopathy and myelopathy. We report a 14-year-old male with a high cervical neurenteric cyst who developed a progressive myelopathy after minor neck trauma. Full recovery followed a partial cyst excision and decompressive procedure. The possible pathogenic mechanisms for this unusual presentation include hemorrhage into the cyst, sudden mechanical compression from abnormal spinal movement of a chronically distorted and compressed spinal cord, or an increase in the size of the cyst secondary to accumulation of cyst fluid. In this case a small increase in the cyst size may have resulted in increased mechanical distortion and spinal cord dysfunction on a compressive and ischemic basis. © 1995, Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation. All rights reserved.