A 30-year-old man presented with progressive pain in the lumbar area of two years duration. It radiated to the right buttock and leg with numbness in the right anterior thigh and dorsum of the foot. The pain did not improve substantially with conservative therapy (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and physiotherapy). All symptoms were aggravated by standing, walking, and lumbar flexion, and were relieved by lying down. MR imaging of the dorsal spine showed a sharply marginated round mass expanding the 8th thoracic vertebral body resulting in moderate stenosis of the spinal canal. Signal within the lesion on T1-weighted images was hypo-intense with hyper-intense signal character in T2- weighted images containing multiple internal septations. Surgical excision was undertaken and the material was submitted for pathologic analysis. Histological examination confirmed it was a hydatid cyst. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, with complete resolution of symptoms.
Key-words:
Hydatid Disease - Echinococcus granulosus - Tape worm - Sclerosis
