Spinal endodermal cyst resembling an arachnoid cyst in appearance: Pitfalls in intraoperative diagnosis of cystic lesions

Background: Surgical treatment of endodermal cysts requires total removal of the cyst wall during the first operation to prevent recurrence. Therefore, intraoperative pathological diagnosis plays an important role in determining the optimal surgical strategy. We present a rare case of a spinal endodermal cyst and discuss its diagnostic difficulty during the intraoperative pathological examination.