Osteoid Osteoma of the Atlas in a Boy: Clinical and Imaging Features–A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Abstract

Osteoid osteoma is a benign osteoblastic tumor, quite uncommon in the spine. We report a case of an osteoid osteoma involving the atlas in a 6-year-old boy, who presented with suboccipital pain and torticollis. Initial radiological findings were ambiguous as magnetic resonance imaging showed mainly edema of upper cervical soft tissues. The subsequent computed tomography depicted a lesion of left lamina of C1. As conservative treatment failed, the lesion was surgically resected and the patient became pain free. To our knowledge, this is the first case of osteoid osteoma involving the atlas associated with abnormal soft tissue reaction reported in literature.

Keywords

osteoid osteoma - cervical spine - torticollis - soft tissue reaction - surgical resection

Publication History

Received: 01 April 2020

Accepted: 02 July 2020

Article published online:
27 October 2020

• References

• 1 Meyers SP. MRI of Bone and Soft Tissue Tumors and Tumorlike Lesions – Differential Diagnosis and Atlas. New York, NY: Thieme; 2007
• 2 Bruneau M, Polivka M, Cornelius JF, George B. Progression of an osteoid osteoma to an osteoblastoma. Spine 2005; 30 (19) E567-E571
• 3 Lee EH, Shafi M, Hui JH. Osteoid osteoma: a current review. J Pediatr Orthop 2006; 26 (05) 695-700
• 4 Kattapuram SV, Kushner DC, Phillips WC, Rosenthal DI. Osteoid osteoma: an unusual cause of articular pain. Radiology 1983; 147 (02) 383-387
• 5 Jackson RP, Reckling FW, Mants FA. Osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma. Similar histologic lesions with different natural histories. Clin Orthop Relat Res 1977; (128) 303-313
• 6 Jones DA. Osteoid osteoma of the atlas. J Bone Joint Surg Br 1987; 69 (01) 149
• 7 Wedge JH, Tchang S, MacFadyen DJ. Computed tomography in localization of spinal osteoid osteoma. Spine 1981; 6 (05) 423-427
• 8 Gamba JL, Martinez S, Apple J, Harrelson JM, Nunley JA. Computed tomography of axial skeletal osteoid osteomas. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1984; 142 (04) 769-772
• 9 Assoun J, Richardi G, Railhac JJ. et al. Osteoid osteoma: MR imaging versus CT. Radiology 1994; 191 (01) 217-223
• 10 Harish S, Saifuddin A. Imaging features of spinal osteoid osteoma with emphasis on MRI findings. Eur Radiol 2005; 15 (12) 2396-2403
• 11 Amirjamshidi A, Roozbeh H, Sharifi G, Abdoli A, Abbassioun K. Osteoid osteoma of the first 2 cervical vertebrae. Report of 4 cases. J Neurosurg Spine 2010; 13 (06) 707-714
• 12 De Praeter MP, Dua GF, Seynaeve PC, Vermeersch DG, Klaes RL. Occipital pain in osteoid osteoma of the atlas. A report of two cases. Spine 1999; 24 (09) 912-914
• 13 Fielding JW, Keim HA, Hawkins RJ, Gabrielian JC. Osteoid osteoma of the cervical spine. Clin Orthop Relat Res 1977; (128) 163-164
• 14 Yang J, Li W, Yin Y, Li Z, Ni C. Radiofrequency ablation of osteoid osteoma in the atlas: a case report. Interv Neuroradiol 2018; 24 (01) 88-92
• 15 Hasegawa T, Hirose T, Sakamoto R, Seki K, Ikata T, Hizawa K. Mechanism of pain in osteoid osteomas: an immunohistochemical study. Histopathology 1993; 22 (05) 487-491
• 16 Rosenthal DI, Hornicek FJ, Torriani M, Gebhardt MC, Mankin HJ. Osteoid osteoma: percutaneous treatment with radiofrequency energy. Radiology 2003; 229 (01) 171-175
• 17 Greenspan A. Benign bone-forming lesions: osteoma, osteoid osteoma, and osteoblastoma. Clinical, imaging, pathologic, and differential considerations. Skeletal Radiol 1993; 22 (07) 485-500