Mobile Schwannoma of High Cervical Cord: A Case Report and Review of Literature

Abstract

Background: Although rare, mobile schwannomas have been observed at various vertebral levels. Most of them have been reported within the lumbar spine or thoracic spine. We report a rare case of mobile schwannoma of high cervical spine and only two cases of such in cervical spine have been reported in literature. Case description: We report case of young lady with high cervical spine schwannoma (C3-C4) on preoperative MRI imaging. Intra-operatively to our surprise we could not find the tumor at C3-4 and had migrated cranially upto C2-3. Partial C2 laminectomy was done to excise the tumour completely. She recovered with no deficit. Conclusion: Mobile cervical tumors are a rare entity. There are many predisposing factors for tumours to migrate. In our case we presume that prone positing along with slight flexion may have caused the tumour to migrate cranially. One should always be prepared for negative exploration.