0:01

As I mentioned at the beginning of this talk,

0:03

far and away the most common of the extradural lesions to affect

0:07

the spinal canal are related to degenerative disc disease and

0:11

degenerative arthritis associated with herniated discs,

0:15

osteophytes, uncovertebral joints, spurs, et cetera.

0:19

So that is the most common,

0:20

and we will deal with that separately on a talk

0:23

on degenerative changes in the spinal canal.

0:27

After that,

0:27

the thing that we are most commonly asked to evaluate are

0:31

postoperative cases in which the surgeons are

0:34

concerned about not only their hardware,

0:37

but whether there are any hematomas or collections that are

0:41

compressing the spinal canal at the site at

0:44

which they have operated. After that,

0:46

the most common extradural lesions are going to be neoplasms

0:49

and those are bone lesions. Of the bone lesions,

0:53

most of these are going to be malignant

0:55

evaluation for metastatic disease and uncommonly benign bone

1:00

lesions. We often are also asked to evaluate a compressed vertebra

1:05

in order to determine whether it is benign or malignant.

1:08

And as I said, although there are some characteristic features,

1:11

sometimes we either recommend a follow up examination at six to

1:15

eight weeks to see whether bone marrow returns to normal,

1:18

identifying it as a benign compression fracture or we

1:22

would do biopsies upon request of the clinicians.

1:25

Infectious etiologies include discitis,

1:28

osteomyelitis, and the complications of

1:30

phlegmon and epidural abscesses.

1:33

This is in a immunosuppressed population or those

1:37

individuals with intravenous drug abuse.

1:41

Congenital lesions we talked about include several of the cystic

1:44

lesions, as well as the myelomeningoceles

1:48

that can occur in this location.

1:50

I hope you enjoyed our talk on extradural processes in the spine.

1:55

I look forward to talking to you about degenerative

1:58

disease in the future. Thank you very much.