• Li-xia Qin, Chun-yu Wang, Zhi-ping Hu, Liu-wang Zeng, Li-ming Tan, and Hai-nan Zhang.
• Department of Neurology, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, 139 # the People Road, Changsha, 410011, P.R. China.
• Eur Spine J. 2015 May 1;24 Suppl 4:S636-43.

PurposeTo report an unusual case of idiopathic hypertrophic spinal pachymeningitis (IHSP) with a review of relevant literature and to discuss the etiology, clinical features, imaging, treatment and prognosis of IHSP.MethodsThe case of a 44-year-old woman is reported. MEDLINE was used to search relevant literatures written in English since 2004.ResultsThe patient suffered from progressive mild thoracic backache followed by truncal and lower extremity weakness, numbness and urinary retention. The diagnosis was confirmed by magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and histopathologic examination. Although she received corticosteroid therapy and decompressive surgery, the patient suffered a rapid relapse probably because of the withdrawal of postoperative steroid therapy.ConclusionsIHSP is a rare disease characterized by inflammatory hypertrophy of the dura mater without identifiable cause and featured clinical progress of radiculalgia to myelopathy. It is a diagnosis of exclusion. In our view, surgical decompression with postoperative steroid therapy may be optimal. Furthermore,we speculated that increased levels of protein and cell count in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) might be positively related to the disease progression. High inflammatory signs or CSF protein and cell levels before surgery or postoperative residual lesions are possible reasons of poor prognosis in patients with IHSP.

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