ABSTRACT

Spinal arachnoid cysts are rare seen and uncommon lesions in the spinal canal. The aim of this study is to investigate the spinal arachnoid cysts in our series.

We inspected 322 patients who were admitted to outpatient clinic from patient file system retrospectively. The patients that admitted for cranial pathologies were excluded. We found only 10 spinal arachnoid cyst lesions and only one of them had been operated. Neurological examinations, symptoms, type of SAC and demographic characteristics of patients were evaluated.

A total of 322 patients were evaluated. 172 patients (53.5 %) were female and 150 patients (46.5 %) were male and the mean age was 53.11 ± 14.03 years old. We found 10 patients (3.1 %) with SAC. Female ratio was 60 % and male was 40 % patients with SAC. Extradural type SAC rate was 70 %.

Spinal arachnoid cysts are rare entities that present with symptoms and signs as a result of focal spinal cord compression. Surgical fenestration or excision could improve mostly in motor, gait and sensory components of the patient’s clinical presentation.