Turkish Neurosurgery 2010 , Vol 20 , Num 1
Giant Craniocervical Junction Schwannoma Involving the Hypoglossal Nerve: Case Report
Serdar KABATAS1, Tufan CANSEVER2, Cem YILMAZ3, Ebru DEMIRALAY4, Serdar CELEBI5, Hakan CANER6
1,2,3,6Başkent University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurosurgery, Ankara, Turkey
4Başkent University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pathology, Istanbul, Turkey
5Başkent University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology, Istanbul, Turkey
OBJECTIVE: The authors present the case of a dumbbell-shaped schwannoma of the upper cervical spine involving the ventral rami of C-2 sensory root and rising through the foramen magnum up to the pontobulbar junction. The 27-year-old male patient complaining of hoarseness, imbalance and experiencing cervical pain and cervical muscle contractions for 2 months was admitted to the hospital. The cervical T1 and T2- weighted magnetic resonance (MR) images revealed the presence of a slightly hyperintense left C1–2 intra–extradural lesion which had eroded the clivus and odontoid process and enlarged the intervertebral foramen and was rising up to ponto-bulbar junction. A posterior approach was used to perform a suboccipital craniectomy and C1- 2 laminectomy, including opening of the dura mater and gross-total removal of the lesion. The cerebrospinal MR image of the patient obtained at the early post-operative period revealed total removal of the lesion. The patient had hypoglossal nerve palsy and mild hemiparesis on the left side which had regressed almost totally at the 3-month follow-up. The far-lateral approach with the patient in the sitting position is very important and facilitates the total removal of the schwannoma. Simple suboccipital craniectomy provided enough exposure for total removal in this case. Keywords : Dumbbell-shaped, Schwannoma, Hypoglossal nerve, Spinal
Corresponding author : Tufan Cansever, drtufan@gmail.com