PDF
ePub
Citation
Print
Abstract
Ossification of the yellow ligament (OYL) is a rare disease that causes myeloradiculopathy at the thoracic spine. The advances in radiographic imaging techniques have made a diagnosis of this pathological entity relatively simple. Surgical decompression and excision of the OYL is the treatment of choice if there are neurological complications from the OYL. We describe a 50-year-old male with thoracic myelopathy caused by a fractured OYL at T10-11, and suggest possible mechanism of the fracture of the OYL at the thoracolumbar spine.
REFERENCES
1). Yamaguchi M, Tamagake S, Fujitta S. A case of ossification of ligamentum flavum causing thoracic myelopathy. J Orthop Surg. 1960; 11:951–956.
2). Maiuri F, Iaconetta G, Gambardella A. Ossification of the yellow ligament causing thoracic cord compression. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2000; 120:346–348.
3). Mohindra S, Chhabra R, Mukherjee KK, Gupta SK, Vaiphei K, Khosla VK. Spinal compression due to ossified yellow ligament: a short series of 5 patients and literature review. Surg Neurol. 2006; 65(4):377–384.
4). Nakamura T, Hashimoto N, Maeda Y, Ikeda T, Naka-gawa H, Takagi K. Degeneration and ossification of the yellow ligament in unstable spine. J Spinal Disord. 1990; 3:288–292.
5). Nishiura I, Isozumi T, Nishihara K, Handa H, Koyama T. Surgical approach to ossification of the thoracic yellow ligament. Surg Neurol. 1999; 51:368–372.
6). Omoyola MF, Cardoso ER, Fox AJ, Drake CG, Dur-ward QJ. Thoracic myelopathy secondary to ossified ligament flavum. J Neurosurg. 1982; 56:448–450.
7). Oxland TR, Lin RM, Panjabi MM. Three dimensional mechanical properties of the thoracolumbar junction. J Orthop Res. 1992; 10:573–580.
8). Okada K, Oka S, Toghe K, Ono F, Yonenobu F, Hosoya T. Thoracic myelopathy caused by ossification of the ligamentum flavum. Clinicopathologic study and surgical treatment. Spine. 1991; 16:280–287.
9). Miyakoshi N, Shimada Y, Suzuki T, et al. Factors related to longterm outcome after decompressive surgery for ossification of the ligamentum flavum of the thoracic spine. J Neurosurg. 2003; 99:251–256.
10). Trevedi P, Behari S, Paul L, Banerji D, Jain VK, Chhabra DK. Thoracic myelopathy secondary to ossified ligamentum flavum. Acta Neurochir. 2001; 143:775–782.
Fig. 1.
A plain radiograph of the thoracic spine shows multiple spurs formation with narrowed disc spaces predominantly on the right side.
Fig. 2.
CT scan shows multiple ossification of the yellow ligament at T10-11. The axial scan shows a broken and displaced fragment of OYL at the same level.
Fig. 3.
Magnetic resonances imaging of the thoracic spine shows a round extradural mass at the T10~11 level. The lesions are inho-mogenously hypointense signal on the T1-weighted image (A) and more hypointense signal on the T2-weighted image (B, C). In addition, signal change in the spinal cord was revealed in the T2-weighted image.
XML Download