Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2015; 3(6): 514-518
Published online Jun 16, 2015. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v3.i6.514
Paraspinous hemolymphangioma associated with adolescent scoliosis
Ishaan Swarup, Benjamin T Bjerke-Kroll, Matthew E Cunningham
Ishaan Swarup, Benjamin T Bjerke-Kroll, Matthew E Cunningham, Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, NY 10021, United States
Author contributions: All authors contributed to this work.
Ethics approval: The study was reviewed and approved by the Hospital for Special Surgery’s Institutional Review Board.
Informed consent: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment
Conflict-of-interest: None of the authors received payments or services, either directly or indirectly (i.e., via his or her institution), from a third party in support of any aspect of this work. None of the authors have had any financial relationship with any entity in the biomedical arena that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work. Also, no author has had any other relationships, or has engaged in any other activities, that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Ishaan Swarup, MD, Resident in Orthopaedic Surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 E 70th St, New York, NY 10021, United States. swarupi@hss.edu
Telephone: +1-212-6061466Fax: +1-212-6061477
Received: January 14, 2015
Peer-review started: January 16, 2015
First decision: February 7, 2015
Revised: February 24, 2015
Accepted: March 16, 2015
Article in press: March 18, 2015
Published online: June 16, 2015
Abstract

Lymphangiomas are a group of benign malformations of the lymphatic system, and hemolymphangioma (or hemangiolymphangioma) is a rare congenital malformation of the lymphatic system with vascular involvement. These benign malformations are most commonly diagnosed at an early age, and may be present as a part of an associated syndrome. In this case report, we describe the first case of adolescent scoliosis associated with a large, paraspinous hemolymphangioma. A 15-year-old girl with an incidental finding of a paraspinous hemolymphangioma is presented along with her history, physical exam, radiographic findings, and operative course. The possible pathogenesis, treatment approach, and clinical dilemmas are also discussed. Given the well-known relationship between tumors and scoliosis, a benign paraspinous vascular and lymphatic tumor may be responsible for the presence of scoliosis in a small number of patients.

Keywords: Case report, Scoliosis, Etiology, Hemolymphangioma, Tumor

Core tip: This case report describes the first case of adolescent scoliosis associated with a large, paraspinous hemolymphangioma. Given the relationship between tumors and spinal deformity, a benign paraspinous vascular and lymphatic tumor may be responsible for scoliosis in a small number of patients.