Balloon-Assisted Fistula Sealing Procedure for Symptomatic Tarlov Cysts

World Neurosurgery
Xuesheng ZhengChaoran Xie

Abstract

Tarlov cyst is an abnormal expansion of the spinal nerve sleeve, and it communicates with the subarachnoid cavity via a perineural fistula. This study presents our experience of a balloon-assisted fistula sealing procedure in treating Tarlov cyst. Twenty-two patients with symptomatic Tarlov cysts were surgically treated. An emulsion balloon was placed into the lumbar subarachnoid cistern through a trocar, so as to temporarily block cerebrospinal fluid flow, then the thecal sac was opened and the inlet of the fistula was sealed by suture of a muscular patch and reinforced by fibrin glue. Finally, the cyst wall was imbricated and the bony cavity was filled with pedicled muscle flaps. Comparing the preoperative and postoperative pain scores according to visual analog scale, 2 patients were slightly improved and 18 patients were substantially improved, including 3 completely pain-free cases. Only 2 patients were unchanged in pain, and both of them had multiple cysts. As a whole, the postoperative pain score was much better than the preoperative score (2.4 vs. 7.5; P < 0.01). Bladder weakness was slightly improved, and bowel dysfunction was almost unchanged after operation. During follow-up, cyst recurrence was found in 1 patient. T...Continue Reading

References

Jul 1, 1984·Surgical Neurology·G S RodziewiczR F Spetzler
Aug 5, 2000·Neurosurgery·P V MummaneniP R Weinstein
Jul 17, 2001·Journal of Neurosurgery·J M VoyadzisF C Henderson
Mar 22, 2003·Surgical Neurology·Wolfhard CasparFrank Ahlhelm
Jun 28, 2012·World Neurosurgery·Giampaolo CantoreGualtiero Innocenzi

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