Abstract
A 63-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with complaint of progression in his numbness of bilateral lower limbs, and with a gait disturbance. Neurological examinations on admission revealed monoparesis of the right lower limb. Conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated a syringomyelia at the Th4-5 level. Cine mode MRI showed membrane-like structures at the Th6 level, and the patient was diagnosed with a spinal arachnoid cyst complicated with syringomyelia. The patient underwent Th4-5 laminectomy and the arachnoid cyst was removed. Postoperative MRI demonstrated that the cyst had disappeared and the syringomyelia had spontaneously shrunk. After the operation, his neurological symptoms were improved remarkably. Therefore, surgical excision of the cyst is effectively decreases the syringomyelia associated with a spinal arachnoid cyst. This case suggests that cine mode MRI will be useful for preoperative diagnosis of the spinal arachnoid cyst.
