Korean J Spine.  2011 Jun;8(2):113-117. 10.14245/kjs.2011.8.2.113.

Correlation between the Symptomatic Lumbar Synovial Cyst and Facet Degeneration: Retrospective Study of 13 Surgical Cases

• Choi JK
• Ryu KS
• Lee H
• Lee K
• Park CK

• KMID: 2288449
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14245/kjs.2011.8.2.113

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
This retrospective study of 13 patients who underwent surgical treatment for symptomatic lumbar synovial cyst was performed to evaluate the clinical findings and pathogenesis of lumbar synovial cyst.
METHODS
The clinical characteristics of the patients were investigated by reviewing the hospital records, preoperative radiological images, and operation records. By observing preoperative CT scans Facet degeneration grade at the lesion and opposite side of pathologic level and adjacent levels were assessed and compared.
RESULTS
There were 5 males and 8 females (average 65.8 year-old). Six patients presented with low back pain and leg pain, and 7 patients presented only leg pain. Most common pathologic level was L4-5. All patients underwent the cyst resection with/without decompressive laminectomy or discectomy. The additional instrumentation was not performed in all patients. No complications or recurrence was observed during average 34.5 months follow-up. There was no significant difference of facet degeneration grade between the lesion side of pathologic level and opposite side of same level or lower adjacent level.
CONCLUSION
In the present study, all patients showed clinical improvement by the simple surgery without any instrumentation. No significant correlation between the occurrence of synovial cyst and the degeneration grade of facet joint was revealed.

Keyword

Synovial cyst; Intraspinal; Lumbar; Facet degeneration

MeSH Terms

Diskectomy
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Hospital Records
Humans
Laminectomy
Leg
Low Back Pain
Male
Recurrence
Retrospective Studies
Synovial Cyst
Zygapophyseal Joint