Background: A pure intramuscular paraspinal schwannoma is extremely rare, with only few case reports in the literature. Due to low frequency, lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms and difficult radiological ass...Background: A pure intramuscular paraspinal schwannoma is extremely rare, with only few case reports in the literature. Due to low frequency, lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms and difficult radiological assessment, the pre-surgical workup leads to a broad differential diagnosis. The aim of the work carried out was therefore to search for evidence of common clinical and radiological signs of the intramuscular paraspinal schwannoma, useful in the diagnostic work-up, and to highlight possible standards of treatment. Methods: Starting from the analysis of our case, we have extended a search to similar cases on the databases PubMed and Google Scholar. The outcome of the analysis gathered, up to August 2021, six relevant papers. Result: We treated a 69-year-old female with a thoracic intramuscular paraspinal mass. The pre-operative MRI had identified two typical signs of schwannoma (“split-fat” sign and the “entry-exit” sign). Intraoperative nerve isolation was performed and complete surgical excision was achieved. At the pathological analysis, we could confirm a rare OMS grade I “ancient schwannoma”. The analysis of the literature data showed a homogeneous picture of radiological presentation of the pathology. Moreover, surgical treatment was always the treatment of choice. Conclusions: The proposed assessment and treatment were consistent with the standard collected in the literature. Typical radiological signs were also found in the other cases collected. Radical surgery is the preferred treatment.展开更多
文摘Background: A pure intramuscular paraspinal schwannoma is extremely rare, with only few case reports in the literature. Due to low frequency, lack of specific clinical signs and symptoms and difficult radiological assessment, the pre-surgical workup leads to a broad differential diagnosis. The aim of the work carried out was therefore to search for evidence of common clinical and radiological signs of the intramuscular paraspinal schwannoma, useful in the diagnostic work-up, and to highlight possible standards of treatment. Methods: Starting from the analysis of our case, we have extended a search to similar cases on the databases PubMed and Google Scholar. The outcome of the analysis gathered, up to August 2021, six relevant papers. Result: We treated a 69-year-old female with a thoracic intramuscular paraspinal mass. The pre-operative MRI had identified two typical signs of schwannoma (“split-fat” sign and the “entry-exit” sign). Intraoperative nerve isolation was performed and complete surgical excision was achieved. At the pathological analysis, we could confirm a rare OMS grade I “ancient schwannoma”. The analysis of the literature data showed a homogeneous picture of radiological presentation of the pathology. Moreover, surgical treatment was always the treatment of choice. Conclusions: The proposed assessment and treatment were consistent with the standard collected in the literature. Typical radiological signs were also found in the other cases collected. Radical surgery is the preferred treatment.