Epidural Lipomatosis in Steroid-Treated Patients

Neurogenic claudication by epidural lipomatosis: a case report and review of literature

“…Duration and dosage of corticosteroid administration varies in different reports, suggesting a threshold for the hypertrophic development of epidural fat. Fessler et al [3] remark that epidural lipomatosis should be considered in patients with low back pain, leg pain, and/or radicular symptoms, when there is a history of corticosteroid use, even when this history is of short duration.…”

“…Spinal epidural lipomatosis is a rare condition defined by pathologic accumulation of fat in the extradural space of the vertebral canal; generally it is associated with the administration of exogenous steroids and has been reported in patients receiving immunosuppressive therapy after organ transplantation [1][2][3] and in patients requiring steroids for systemic disease (e.g. SLE [4,5], dermatomyositis [6], rheumatoid arthritis [7], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [3,8]).…”

“…SLE [4,5], dermatomyositis [6], rheumatoid arthritis [7], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [3,8]). Epidural lipomatosis is uncommon in patients with an endogenous elevation of steroids, as in Cushing's syndrome [9].…”

Is epidural lipomatosis associated with abnormality of body fat distribution? A case report

“…In most cases such lipomatosis is related to local [8] or systemic [4,6,11] administration of glucocorticoids, and a few cases have been reported associated with Cushing's syndrome [9,12]. Idiopathic forms of the disease seem to occur in obese patients but their physiopathology remains unclear.…”

Esophageal lipomatosis: another consequence of the use of steroids

“…In the chest, this leads to an accumulation of fat in the mediastinum, epidura, subepicardium, in the interatrial septum, and even in the myocardium [7,8,9,10,11,12,13]. Epidural lipomatosis can cause signs of myelopathy [14]. Mediastinal lipomatosis does not appear to cause clinical symptoms.…”