Posterior Surgical Ligation and Cyst Decompression -via Needle Puncture- of a Large Anterior Sacral Pelvic Meningocele Through Posterior Sacral Laminectomy

Abstract

The first documented description of an anterior sacral meningocele was Bryant’s in 1823. Anterior sacral meningocele patients have constipation as a universal symptom; urinary incontinence is also common. All the symptoms are directly related to the pressure from a pelvic mass on adjacent structures. When the patient stands, a headache often develops because the spinal fluid pressure decreases as the meningocele sac fills. Finally, a scimitar-shaped sacrum on a neuroradiological anteroposterior plain assessment is pathognomonic. The coccyx may be absent, and the lower sacral laminae may be absent or incomplete. The surgical options for this rare clinical condition are still matter of debate.

Anterior sacral meningocele is a pathology that lacks a current classification and neurosurgical therapeutic standards, even though a similar dynamic has been shown by the related traumatic pseudomeningocele. Anterior approaches (retro- and transperitoneal meningocele neck occlusion with internal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cyst drainage) and posterior approaches (posterior sacral laminectomy, dural sac ligation, and CSF cyst drainage) are the available surgical strategies.

We now report the case of an adult patient for whom a posterior approach was suggested and performed and report her postoperative surgical follow-up. The surgical rationale is also discussed.