Intraspinal synovial cyst
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Intraspinal synovial cysts are extradural lesions that arise from the synovial lining of the facet joints. Most cysts are found at the L4-L5 facet joint, as this is the level where the most biomechanical spinal motion occurs. Synovial cysts may extend into the neural foramen or spinal canal and result in symptomatic radiculopathy, spinal stenosis, or both. Patients may also experience neurologic claudication if the cyst is large enough to cause substantial spinal cord compression. The differential diagnosis for synovial cysts includes arachnoid cysts, Tarlov cysts, schwannomas, and migrated herniated disk fragments.
Diagnosis
The imaging findings are
- Intraspinal synovial cysts typically appear as a sharply marginated epidural mass in which the contents most commonly appear isointense to cerebrospinal fluid on T1-weighted images and hyperintense to cerebrospinal fluid on T2-weighted images.
- Attenuation of intraspinal synovial cysts on CT images correlates directly with viscosity of the cyst contents.
Lumbar spinal synovial cyst
