Surgical management of ependymoma in the cervical cord: A purpose clinical case

Abstract

Ependymomas are brain tumors that arise from ependymal cells, support cells in the brain, and spinal cord. They represent between 2 to 3% of all primary brain tumors. They are the fourth most common brain tumor in children, where 90% of them are located in the posterior fossa. In adults, 60% of these tumors are found in the spinal cord and can occur at any level of the cervical, thoracic, lumbar spinal cord and some in the sacral region. A case of a young adult patient is reported, with a complete, progressive cervical spinal cord syndrome, caused by cervical ependymoma, in which subtotal excision of the lesion was performed with 2 years of survival.