5-aminolevulinic acid fluorescence guided surgery for resection of cystic meningioma with bone invasion.

Meningiomas have a 5 year recurrence rate of 8%. Histological grade and extent of resection are the two main prognostic factors. Cystic meningiomas represent between 2 and 4% of meningiomas, and the complete resection rate in these cases is 62.

Fluorescence Guided Surgery with 5-Aminolevulinic Acid for Resection of Spinal Cord Ependymomas.

Study Design: A retrospective study.

Purpose: We report our experience with 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA)-assisted resection of spinal cord ependymomas in adults.

Overview Of Literature: Ependymoma is the most frequent primary spinal cord tumor in adults.

Fluorescence guided resection with 5-aminolevulinic acid of a pilomyxoid astrocytoma of the third ventricle.

Fluorescence-guided resection with 5-aminolevulinic acid has been shown to be useful in the resection of certain brain tumors other than high grade gliomas, facilitating the intraoperative differentiation of neoplastic tissue. The technique enables the surgeon to ensure that no tumor fragments remain, thereby achieving higher rates of complete resection. Tihan first described pilomyxoid astrocytomas in 1999.

[Epidural extraskeletal Ewing sarcoma. Case report and literature review].

Ewing sarcoma is a malignant tumour of the bone that sometimes presents extraskeletal involvement, with the epidural location being rare. We report the case of a 45-year-old woman with paresthesia, paresis and urinary retention. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an epidural mass from C6 to D3.

[Elusive thoracic spine tumour. Report of an exceptional case and literature review].

Elusive tumours in the spine, most of them schwannomas of the cauda equina, have been reported very rarely. We present the case of a woman with a preoperative radiological diagnosis of schwannoma at D10 level in whom a laminectomy was performed to remove the tumour. Although the laminectomy was correctly positioned, there was no tumour upon opening the dura and the laminectomy had to be extended cephalad to find and remove the tumour.