Solitary Thoracic Intramedullary Schwannoma Report of Two Cases

Schwannomas are the most common tumors of the spinal cord. Nevertheless, sporadic intramedullary location of this entity is a very rare condition. We present two cases of solitary thoracic intramedullary schwannoma, located at the T6 and T10 levels respectively, in patients without evidence of Von Recklinghausen's disease. Two males, 71 and 51 years old respectively, presented with signs and symptoms of progressive thoracic myelopathy. In both cases, magnetic resonance imaging disclosed a spinal cord tumor, located at T6 and T10 levels respectively. Both patients were treated surgically. Patient 1 underwent an operation via a posterolateral extrapleural approach. The second patient was submitted to surgical resection of the tumor via a posterior approach. In both patients, total excision of an intramedullary lesion was achieved and histological and immunohistochemical findings were consistent with a typical schwannoma. Postoperative magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated no evidence of residual tumor in ...