Symptomatic Pneumorrhachis

Ender Koktekir; Necati Tatarli; Davut Ceylan; Bengu Ekinci Koktekir; Gokhan Akdemir

doi:10.1055/s-0032-1333123

Journal of Neurological Surgery Part A: Central European Neurosurgery, Table of Contents

J Neurol Surg A Cent Eur Neurosurg 2014; 75(02): 140-145
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1333123

Review

Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Symptomatic Pneumorrhachis

Ender Koktekir

¹Department of Neurosurgery, Selcuk University, Selcuklu Medical School, Konya, Turkey

,

Necati Tatarli

²Department of Neurosurgery, Dr. Lutfi Kirdar Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

,

Davut Ceylan

³Department of Neurosurgery, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey

,

Bengu Ekinci Koktekir

⁴Department of Ophthalmology Selcuk University, Selcuklu Medical School, Konya, Turkey

,

Gokhan Akdemir

¹Department of Neurosurgery, Selcuk University, Selcuklu Medical School, Konya, Turkey

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Pneumorrhachis (PR) is the presence of air within the spinal canal, whether localized in the epidural or in the subarachnoid space. Evidence of intraspinal air, especially in the subarachnoid space, had been thought to be merely a radiological artifact of serious underlying pathology until it was proven that PRs can be related to neurologic symptoms ranging from radicular pain to serious neurologic deficits. The etiologies, pathomechanisms, and natural courses show differences from case to case, with the result that no consistent treatment strategies exist in the literature. Although the conservative treatment modalities seem to be more appropriate in nonsymptomatic cases, treatment strategies in symptomatic cases remain the subject of discussion. In this study, we present two symptomatic cases of PR arising from different causes and review the literature, focusing especially on the symptomatic cases and strategies for treating them.

Keywords

intraspinal air - neurologic deficit - pneumocephalus - pneumorrhachis - pneumothorax - spinal emphysema

Full Text

References

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