DELAYED MYELOPATHY AFTER TRIVIAL NECK INJURY IN A PATIENT WITH A CERVICAL NEURENTERIC CYST

Background: Neurenteric cysts are rare spinal lesions of congenital or igin. They usually present insidiously with a long history of local sp inal pain, radiculopathy and myelopathy. We report a 14-year-old male with a high cervical neurenteric cyst who developed a progressive myel opathy after minor neck trauma. Full recovery followed a partial cyst excision and decompressive procedure. Significance and conclusion: The possible pathogenic mechanisms for this unusual presentation include hemorrhage into the cyst, sudden mechanical compression from abnormal spinal movement of a chronically distorted and compressed spinal cord, or an increase in the size of the cyst secondary to accumulation of c yst fluid. In this case a small increase in the cyst size may have res ulted in increased mechanical distortion and spinal cord dysfunction o n a compressive and ischemic basis.