Clinical Management and Treatment Guidelines for Intraforaminal Lumbar Synovial Cyst Presentation: Report of Two Cases

TL;DR

This paper presents two cases of rare lumbar synovial cysts and discusses their successful surgical treatment.

Contribution

The study contributes clinical insights into managing uncommonly located lumbar synovial cysts through surgical resection.

Findings

Surgical resection of foraminal lumbar synovial cysts led to symptom resolution in both patients.

No recurrence of cysts was observed following the surgical interventions.

The necessity for fusion in addition to decompression remains a topic of debate.

Abstract

We report two cases of unusually located foraminal lumbar synovial cysts: a 46-year-old female and a 59-year-old male, both of whom experienced pain and/or associated numbness. One patient underwent decompressive laminectomy and cyst resection, while the other required concomitant interbody fusion. All patients reported symptom resolution with no recurrence of the cysts. The foraminal location for lumbar synovial cysts is relatively uncommon and lacks conclusive treatment guidelines. Notably, the necessity for arthrodesis in addition to decompression remains controversial. However, these cases suggest that surgical resection of these cysts can be successful.

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