RESECTION OF RELEVANT NERVE ROOTS IN SURGERY OF SPINAL NEURINOMAS WITHOUT PERSISTING NEUROLOGICAL DEFICIT

In 42 patients with a spinal neurinoma or neurofibroma, resection of t he affected nerve root was necessary in 24 cases for complete removal of the tumour. In 10 of these the resected nerve root was relevant for upper or lower limb function. Of this subgroup of 10 patients with a resection of a relevant motor root, only 4 showed an initial slight im pairment of motor function, which was followed by complete recovery in two cases by the time of discharge from hospital. A persisting releva nt motor impairment was not observed in any case. Recommendations give n in the literature for the resection of spinal neurinomas vary from r adical resection to strict microsurgical resection with preservation o f as much of the nerve root as possible. This report together with the publication of Kim et al.8 suggests, that radical resection is possib le without neurological deficit, if microsurgical preservation of unaf fected nerve fibres is impossible or if the risk of recurrence is judg ed to be unduly high.