Emerging Medical and Nonsurgical Interventions in Cystic Lesions of the Spine

Cystic lesions of the spine are represented by congenital, infectious, posttraumatic, and neoplastic processes and can be stratified according to their anatomical location within the spine. Their locations can be intraosseus, extradural, intradural and extramedullary, intramedullary, or mixed. Although the definitive treatment of symptomatic spinal cystic lesions is primarily surgical, some of these lesions are treated medically and by minimally invasive techniques. We present an overview of the medical and minimally invasive alternatives for management of those lesions which are amenable to this nonsurgical treatment.