Ali Babashahi - MD, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Rasool-e Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran
Morteza Taheri - MD, Resident of Neurosurgery, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Rasool-e Akram Hospital, Tehran, Iran

Background & Importance: Disc herniation is defined as the prolapsed of material disc into the spinal canal. If the disc fragment is freein spinal canal, it is called sequestration disc fragment. Occasionally, alteration in sequestration disc fragment makes the diagnosis of thedisc herniation, challenging.Case Presentation: We reviewed a rare case of the cervical sequestrated disc herniation mimicking a spinal canal extradural abscess.The 55-year-old man presented cervical axial and radicular pain. Cervical spine MRI showed an extra-axial longitudinal mass behind C5and C6 vertebral body association with anterior compression on cord. In T2 images of lesion, the signal intensity varied from isointenseto hyperintense and marked peripheral enhancement with GD injection. After unilateral right C6 hemilaminectomy, a sequestrated discfragment was resected from epidural space.Conclusion: The histopathologic findings were in favor of sequestrated disc herniation. Although MRI is the main preoperative diagnostictool for accurate diagnosis of the sequestrated disc herniation, the sequestrated disc fragment can show the variable features on MRI andcan be misdiagnosed with the other space-occupying lesions.

Cervical Disc Herniation; Sequestrated Disc Fragment; Mass Lesion