LONG-TERM OUTCOME AFTER REMOVAL OF SPINAL SCHWANNOMA - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF 187 CASES

Are spinal schwannomas as benign as we think? To what extent do patien ts recover? Are patients prone to develop late complications such as c ystic myelopathy or symptomatic spinal deformity? Is their life expect ancy compromised? In an effort to answer these questions, the authors analyzed the long-term outcome for 187 patients from one neurosurgical department with surgically treated spinal schwannoma. Median follow-u p period was 12.9 years (2454 patient years). One-fifth of the patient s considered themselves free of symptoms at follow-up examination. The most common late complaint was local pain (46%), followed by radiatin g pain (43%), paraparesis (31%), radicular deficit (28%), sensory defi cit due to a spinal cord lesion (27%), and difficulty voiding (19%). L ate complications occurred in 21% of the patient population, including cystic myelopathy (2%), spinal arachnoiditis (6%), spinal deformity ( 6%), and troublesome pain (7%). Life expectancy of the patients corres ponded to that of the general population.