How to recognize intravertebral nerve sheath tumors

  Nerve sheath tumor is a benign tumor originating from Schwann’s sheath. It starts slowly and is usually found in middle age, accounting for 25% of all spinal tumors.  Clinical manifestations】 Generally, nerve sheath tumors occur in the posterior roots, and most of them first manifest as unilateral radicular pain. Patients show different degrees of pain, numbness and radiating pain in the neck and upper limbs, which cannot be relieved at rest. When the tumor enlarges, it may appear in a beaded or dumbbell shape, occurring at the nerve root exiting the nerve foramen, causing the corresponding symptoms of nerve root compression. Huge nerve sheath tumor may erode the vertebral body and invade the paravertebral soft tissue. When the tumor further enlarges and compresses the spinal cord, spinal cord hemisection syndrome may occur.  The tumor compression may cause bone resorption and thinning or depression of the inner edge of the vertebral arch, and the two sides may be involved in sphincter-like deformation, and in severe cases, the tumor may be completely destroyed. The arch root distance is widened, i.e. the transverse diameter of vertebral canal is widened. When the tumor extends outward or nerve root compression occurs, the intervertebral foramen can be enlarged, which can be shown in oblique radiographs. Pathological fracture may occur when serious damage is caused by erosion of vertebral body.  (2) CT scan CT scan can show the relationship between tumor adjacent tissues and bone destruction, and CTM can reflect the spinal cord compression to a certain extent.  (3) MR examination shows that more than 90% of nerve sheath tumors are located in the posterior and lateral part of the spinal canal. Of these, 67% are subdural, 17% are dumbbell-shaped, and 17% are completely epidural. Tumors are usually only a few centimeters in size, but those located in the lumbosacral segment or pelvis can grow to a large size. Large tumors are prone to cystic degeneration and bleeding. Tumors are easily resected and have no tendency to recur. Nerve sheath tumors in the sagittal and axial planes show extramedullary low signal foci on T1-weighted images and high signal on T2-weighted images, and the spinal cord is deformed and displaced by extramedullary tumor compression.  The only treatment is surgical resection, and radical total resection should be the first choice of surgical option. The tumor within a single vertebral nerve sheath is easy to be removed, but the tumor within multiple vertebral nerve sheaths is large in scope, bleeding and unclear in demarcation line, so it is not easy to remove all of them. For tumors invading the paravertebral soft tissues, since the tumor may not have a complete envelope and is rich in blood vessels, the dura mater of the upper and lower poles of the tumor can be exposed first during resection to clarify the anatomical structure before further resection. Nerve sheath tumors are prone to recurrence after resection and sometimes require multiple surgeries.  Cases of cervical intradural nerve sheath tumor surgery