It is known that free-falling accident is one of the major causes of head or spinal injury, especially in the elderly and children. But, the frequent injury types are diverse according to the reports because of the different subjects studied among the reports. A cranio-spinal injury caused by free-falling accident from height hasn't been studied a lot in Korea yet. To evaluate the clinical aspects of cranio-spinal fracture caused by free-falling injury which developed particularly in a certain fixed place, we analyzed 122 patients who had had the fractures involving extremities, ribs, and cranio-spinal regions during the past 4 years from January 1994 through July 1997. Forty-seven patient(38.5%) had the cranio-spinal fracture. The incidence of the skull and vertebral body fracture were significantly higher than that of the vertebral transverse process fracture, respectively (p=.052 and p=.007). There was statistically insignificant in the height of falls between the skull and vertebral body fracture(p=.175). Associated extra- craniospinal fractures were noted on radius(25.4%), rib(20.5%), femur(9%), calcaneus(5.7%), and pelvic bone(4.9%), in order of frequency.
Aged ; Child ; Extremities ; Head ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Ribs ; Skull ; Skull Fractures ; Spinal Injuries

Multiple intracranial tumors of different cell types are rare. We report a case of double primary intracranial tumors of different histologic types: oligodendroglioma, and pituitary adenoma. Von Recklinghausen's disease or other etiologic factors supposedly associated with multiple brain tumors were not recognized in this 36-year-old male patient.
Adult ; Brain Neoplasms* ; Brain* ; Humans ; Male ; Neurofibromatosis 1 ; Oligodendroglioma ; Pituitary Neoplasms

Acute calcific retropharyngeal tendinitis, also known as calcific tendinitis of the longus colli, is an underrecognized inflammatory condition by deposition of calcium hydroxyapatite in the tendon fibers of the longus colli muscles. This disease entity may occur in any part of the body, however, rarely occur in the prevertebral musculature. Symptoms and signs of this disease are neck pain and stiffness associated with odynophagia and retropharyngeal soft tissue swelling. Because of self-limiting disease, the symptoms resolve usually with or without anti-inflammatory medication and analgesics within days or weeks. We report a case of acute calcific retropharyngeal tendinitis with a reviews of the related literatures.
Analgesics ; Durapatite ; Muscles ; Neck Pain ; Tendinopathy* ; Tendons

We report a 35-year old female patient with history of seizure and mass which was confirmed as a plasma cell granuloma, arising in the left parietal area. The mass appeared on magnetic resonance imaging as well circumscribed area of decreased signal that markedly enhanced with administration of the contrast. Pathologically, biopsy showed a mixed cellular population with considerable numbers of plasma cells along with eosinophils and lymphocytes and the tumors was characterized immunohistochemically by polyclonal population of lymphoid cells.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Eosinophils ; Female ; Granuloma, Plasma Cell* ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Plasma Cells* ; Plasma* ; Rabeprazole ; Seizures

The bone formation accompanied with other diseases in brain has been rarely reported. Furthermore, it has not been reported without any specific disease. We report a case of a 27 year old female who was referred to our hospital because of the incidentally found calcified lesion in plain X-ray of the skull. The CT and MRI of the brain showed a calcification with minimal enhancement at left parietal area. The calcified lesion was removed and biopsy was performed with stereotactic guided craniotomy. Pathologically, the lesion was confirmed as the membranous bone which was composed of bony trabeculations with osteocytes and the biopsy from adjacent area to the bone revealed a gliosis without any other disease.
Adult ; Biopsy ; Brain ; Craniotomy ; Female ; Gliosis ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Osteocytes ; Osteogenesis* ; Rabeprazole ; Skull

Occasionally, a posterior fossa arachnoid cyst can induce compression of the spinal cord and cause syringomyelia. Here, we report the case of a 29-year-old man with both progressive shoulder pain and gait disturbance, who was found to have a huge retrocerebellar arachnoid cyst associated with syringomyelia. Accordingly, posterior fossa decompression and arachnoid cyst excision were performed. Post-operative MRI showed a marked reduction in the size of the arachnoid cyst and syringomyelia. The patient's symptoms were clearly improved compared to before surgery. In our view, treatment in such patients should focus on decompressing the foramen magnum and include the removal of the coexistent arachnoid cyst walls, which appear to be the crucial factor in development of syringomyelia. In this report, we discuss the pathogenic mechanisms underlying syringomyelia-associated retrocerebellar arachnoid cyst and review the current literature on this topic.
Adult ; Arachnoid* ; Decompression ; Foramen Magnum ; Gait ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Shoulder Pain ; Spinal Cord ; Syringomyelia*

A rare case of solitary intraspinal epidural lymphangioma is described with a review of the literature. A 16-year-old boy was admitted to our hospital with a history of two-year of progressive paraparesis. Magnetic resonance imaging study revealed a 2 x 2 x 6 cm sized epidural cystic mass in the thoracic spine. Surgical total removal and biopsy were performed. The final pathologic report on the mass indicated lymphangioma.
Adolescent ; Biopsy ; Epidural Space ; Humans ; Lymphangioma ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Paraparesis ; Spine

We present a rare case of fracture-dislocation at the level of the first sacral (S1) and second sacral (S2) vertebrae. The S1 was displaced forward into the pelvic cavity and was located just in front of the S2. Because the patient also had extensive neurological injury to the lumbar plexus and instability of the pelvic ring, surgery to stabilize the pelvis and to decompress the lumbar plexus was performed. The surgery was successful and the patient experienced marked improvement in neurological function.
Dislocations ; Humans ; Lumbosacral Plexus ; Pelvis ; Sacrum ; Spine

The authors report an extremely rare case with intraventricular and subarachnoid fat developed after trauma to spine and soft tissue in a 54-year-old male. The initial computed tomography (CT) showed multiple low attenuation lesions, which were thought to be pneumocephalus. Cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed lesions with high signal intensity on T1-weighted magnetic resonance images and high signal intensity on T2-weighted images, indicating fat globules within the CSF. In this report, the clinical presentation, radiological findings, and a review of the literature are presented.
Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pneumocephalus ; Spinal Injuries ; Spine

A pure extradural spinal arteriovenous malformation, in the absence of a vertebral body hemangioma, is extremely rare. 33-year-old male presented with spinal extradural arteriovenous malformation(AVM) that caused compressive radiculo- pathy of the L4 nerve root in the left side. The initial symptoms were presented to pain in the left leg and low back pain. Neurological examination showed paresthesia and hyperalgesia in the anterolateral aspect of the left thigh and in the medial to lateral aspect of the left lower leg as like a case of L4 root compression of suspiciously acute disc herniation. MRI showed a mass like a central protruding disc at L3-4 combined with a cystic mass with no specific findings in the vertebral body, and no evidence of vascular abnormality. The spinal extradural AVM was excised with laminectomy. The patient recovered completely from the initial signs and symptoms.
Arteriovenous Malformations ; Hemangioma ; Humans ; Hyperalgesia ; Intervertebral Disc ; Laminectomy ; Leg ; Low Back Pain ; Male ; Neurologic Examination ; Paresthesia ; Radiculopathy ; Thigh