ASPIRATION OF INTRASPINAL SYNOVIAL CYST - RECURRENCE AFTER TEMPORAL IMPROVEMENT

Intraspinal synovial cyst primarily occurs in the lumbar spine and may cause back pain and compression nerve disturbance. Percutaneous aspir ation has been recommended as an alternative to surgery in three cases . We report on two patients who improved after aspiration of gelatinou s material and steroid injection but whose cyst recurred within a shor t period of time. There are reportedly two types of synovial cyst: One contains serosanguinous fluid and the other gelatinous fluid. These t wo types are indistinguishable on computed tomography or magnetic reso nance imaging. The results of all patients whose aspirated material wa s gelantinous were unsuccessful, including our cases. Thus, the outcom e may depend on the pathology of the cyst.