Intraneural Granular Cell Tumor of a Cervical Dorsal Nerve Root: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Background Granular cell tumor (GCT) is a relatively uncommon predominantly benign lesion that usually presents as a solitary, painless cutaneous or submucosal nodule. Most of these tumors are found in the tongue. Although GCT is believed to have a Schwann cell origin, reports of GCT in peripheral a...

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Published inWorld neurosurgery Vol. 86; pp. 511.e5 - 511.e8
Main Authors Cheng, Ron Ron, Forcucci, Jessica A, Kalhorn, Stephen P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Elsevier Inc 01.02.2016
Subjects
Adult
Cervical spine
Cervical Vertebrae
Granular cell tumor
Granular Cell Tumor - diagnosis
Granular Cell Tumor - surgery
Humans
Male
Nerve sheath tumor
Neurosurgery
Spinal Cord Neoplasms - diagnosis
Spinal Cord Neoplasms - surgery
Spinal nerve root
Spinal Nerve Roots
Magnetic resonance imaging
MRI
Nerve sheath tumor
Spinal nerve root
GCT
Granular cell tumor
Cervical spine
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Summary:Background Granular cell tumor (GCT) is a relatively uncommon predominantly benign lesion that usually presents as a solitary, painless cutaneous or submucosal nodule. Most of these tumors are found in the tongue. Although GCT is believed to have a Schwann cell origin, reports of GCT in peripheral and spinal nerves are uncommon. Case Description We report the case of a 43-year-old man with neck pain and hand numbness who was found to have a heterogeneously enhancing left-sided C2 nerve sheath tumor on magnetic resonance imaging. He underwent C2 decompression and resection of the left-sided C2 nerve sheath tumor with subsequent C1-C2 arthrodesis and instrumentation. Histopathologic review showed GCT. Review of the literature yielded 4 other reported cases of GCT within the vicinity of a spinal nerve root. Only one of these explicitly showed spinal nerve root involvement. This is a rare case of a GCT presenting as cervical nerve root mass, and what we believe is the first reported case of this in the literature. Conclusions The surgeon should be aware of GCT when encountering spinal nerve root tumors because it may alter the surgical approach necessary for adequate resection compared with more commonly encountered nerve sheath tumors.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Case Study-3
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ISSN:1878-8750
1878-8769
DOI:10.1016/j.wneu.2015.10.012