Tumors in the Sacrum: 7 cases report

Bae, Dae Kyung; Lee, Sang Eun; Kim, Ki Tack; Cho, Sang Yeol; Han, Hyun Soo; Park, Bo Yeon

Abstract

Tumors of the sacrum are relatively uncommon. The diagnosis is difficult, especially in the early phase of the disease, because the clinical manifestations are nonspecific, the clinical signs may be vague and the radiologic changes are needed to differentiate from intestinal gas shadow. The clinical features are sacral pain, sensory change on perineum, urination difficulty, constipation, and sciatica. Seven cases of sacral tumor were treated at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kyung Hee University, from October 1981 to October 1992, and the results were as follows: 1. Because of the variability of the sacral tumor, we cannot define the most common tumor. 2. There is difficult in early diagnosis of the tumor, because the symptoms of tumor are similar to that of lumbar disc herniation and the radiologic findings are subtle. 3. CT and MRI are very effective methods to detect the tumor in the sacrum. 4. Curettage, excision, resection, sacrectomy and internal fixation were done according to the kinds of tumors and the amount of bony destruction.