Solitary asymptomatic posterior vertebral intracanal cervical spine osteochondroma (original) (raw)

An eight-year-old female presented to the emergency room after cervical spine trauma. The patient was asymptomatic prior to the trauma but developed cervical spine tenderness as a result of the trauma. She did not have any symptoms of myelopathy or radiculopathy. A noncontrast CT of the cervical spine was obtained. Although no acute fractures were identified, a solitary, well-circumscribed bone tumor was incidentally identified arising from the posterior margin of the C4 vertebral body, with cortical continuity with the parent vertebra (Fig. 1). The tumor resulted in central canal narrowing. A pre-and postcontrast MRI of the cervical spine was performed for further characterization of the lesion. The MRI demonstrated marrow continuity of the lesion with the C4 vertebral body and a possible small cartilage cap (Fig. 2), consistent with an osteochondroma. There was associated flattening and compression of the anterior spinal cord at the C4 level. No evidence of malignant degeneration was identified. Given the lack of symptomatology, to our knowledge, the lesion was not resected and therefore, definitive pathologic correlation could