Author(s)

Shigeta Takeuchi¹, Yuichirou Yokoyama¹, Yasuaki Iida¹, Keiji Hasegawa¹, Akihito Wada¹, Ryoichi Fukano¹, Kazutoshi Shibiuya², Hiroshi Takahashi¹

¹Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
²Department of Pathology, Toho University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.

We encountered a patient with thoracic disc herniation that extruded to the dorsal epidural space. The patient was a 78-year-old man in whom listlessness of the lower limbs developed without an inducer and walking became difficult. The patient was diagnosed as having a thoracic spinal cord tumor on MRI by a physician, and was referred to our hospital. Since ring enhancement was observed on contrast MRI performed at our hospital, the patient was diagnosed with disc herniation and surgery was performed. A hernia continuous with the intervertebral space that extruded to the dorsal epidural space was excised. At the final follow up, 1 year and 4 months after surgery, the patient could walk with a cane. Among thoracic disc herniation cases, hernia extruded to the dorsal epidural space is rare and difficult to diagnose by imaging before surgery, but evaluation using contrast MRI is useful in the diagnosis. When a space-occupying lesion is observed in the spinal canal in the lower thoracic spinal region, it is necessary to evaluate it by contrast MRI in consideration of thoracic disc herniation.

Disc Hernia, Dorsal Epidural Space, Thoracic Spine

Takeuchi, S. , Yokoyama, Y. , Iida, Y. , Hasegawa, K. , Wada, A. , Fukano, R. , Shibiuya, K. and Takahashi, H. (2015) A Case of Thoracic Disc Herniation Extruded to the Dorsal Epidural Space. Open Journal of Orthopedics, 5, 229-234. doi: 10.4236/ojo.2015.58030.