Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2008;33:113. doi:10.1016/j.ejcts.2007.09.025
Copyright © 2008, European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier. All rights reserved.
Images in cardio-thoracic surgery |
Multiple asymptomatic lateral thoracic meningocele
Rui Haddad*
Department of Surgery, Thoracic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Received 14 July 2007;
received in revised form 12 September 2007;
accepted 27 September 2007.
* Corresponding author. Address: Rua Barao do Lucena 48, Suite 03, 22260-020 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. Tel.: +55 21 33221545; fax: +55 21 33221545. (Email: haddad{at}ufrj.br; rhaddad{at}globo.com).
Key Words: Intrathoracic lateral meningocele • Multiple mediastinal lesions • Mediastinum • Spine • Cyst • Asymptomatic
A 66-year-old woman had an abnormal chest X-ray. MRI scan showed multiple thoracic lateral meningoceles (Fig. 1
). Meningocele is a herniation of the meninges through a vertebral column defect. Asymptomatic non-neurofibromatosis-related multiple thoracic lateral meningoceles is a very unusual finding. No treatment is necessary for this case.
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Fig. 1. Composite picture of spinal MRI scan showing 8 lateral thoracic meningoceles (white arrows), 5 in the upper and 3 in the lower paravertebral area. Meningocele should be included in differential diagnosis of posterior mediastinal cysts. There are some reports of ruptured meningoceles in the literature. This patient was not admitted to hospital, the lesion was seen in a routine chest X-ray, confirmed with CT and diagnosed by MRI and she is being followed up for 3 years.
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