Prophylactic operation for asymptomatic spinal lipomas in children

Objective To explore the clinical outcome and value of prophylactic operation of asymptomatic spinal lipomas in children. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 168 patients with asymptomatic spinal lipomas who underwent prophylactic operation from April 2001 to June 2015 at Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Children's Medical Center, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University. Those patients (with an average age of 7 months) aged from 1.5 months to 15 years old were free of preoperative symptoms such as pain, gatism and/or bilateral lower limb dysfunction. Surgical protocols included removal of the lipomas in subcutaneous and extramedullary tissues, complete excision of extraspinal lipomas, subtotal resection of intraspinal fat, detaching of the medullary cones from dura sac and release of the tethered cord. Results In 168 patients, complete resection was achieved for the dorsal spinal lipoma(132 patients) and subtotal resection was undertaken for the lateral type and the wrapped lipoma(36 patients). Five cases developed cerebrospinal fluid leakage that caused subcutaneous effusion after surgery, which resolved following multiple punctures and pressure dressing. Six patients had slight gatism. Among them, 5 recovered in 1 month and 1 had no relief of symptoms. In this series, 159 out of 168 cases were successfully followed up for 3-19 years (with an average of 76 months). Long-term postoperative symptoms were observed in 13 patients, with an incidence of 8.2%. Twelve patients of them had spinal cord retethering and 1 had lipoma enlargement. Conclusion Prophylactic surgery could lead to favorable outcomes in children with asymptomatic spinal lipomas and help prevent neurologic dysfunction in the future. Key words: Spinal cord; Lipoma; Neurosurgical procedures; Prognosis