Novel wrapping surgery for symptomatic sacral perineural cysts

OBJECTIVE Perineural cysts, also called Tarlov cysts, are dilatations of the nerve root sleeves commonly found in the sacrum. The majority of the cysts are asymptomatic and found incidentally on routine spine imaging. Symptomatic sacral perineural cysts (SPCs) that induce intractable low-back pain, radicular symptoms, and bladder/bowel dysfunction require surgery. However, the surgical strategy for symptomatic SPCs remains controversial. The authors hypothesized that the symptoms were caused by an irritation of the adjacent nerve roots caused by SPCs, and developed a wrapping surgery to treat these cysts. METHODS Seven patients with severe unilateral medial thigh pain and ipsilateral SPCs were included. Preoperative MRI showed that the cysts were severely compressing the adjacent nerve roots in all patients. After a partial laminectomy of the sacrum, the SPCs were punctured and CSF was aspirated to reduce their size, followed by dissection of the adjacent nerve roots from the SPCs. The SPCs were then wrapped with a Gore-Tex membrane to avoid reexpansion. RESULTS All 7 patients experienced substantial relief of their symptoms. The average numeric rating scale pain score was reduced from an average preoperative value of 7.9 to 0.6 postoperatively. Postoperative MRI showed that all cysts were reduced in size and the adjacent nerve roots were decompressed. Regrowth of the treated cysts or recurrence of the symptoms did not occur during the entire follow-up period, which ranged from 39 to 90 months. No complications were noted. CONCLUSIONS The authors' new wrapping technique was effective in relieving radicular symptoms for patients with symptomatic SPCs. The results suggested that the symptoms stemmed from compression of the adjacent nerve roots caused by the SPCs, and not from the nerve roots in the cysts.