Combined endoscopic and microsurgical treatment of Tarlov cysts

Tarlov cysts are a rare condition. While they appear asymptomatic mostly, some patients develop severe clinical symptoms. Tarlov cysts can grow over time and may result from disturbances within the spinal CSF system. Due to the rare character, the disease can be a burden for both patients and physicians. Treat or not to treat, and if yes, how to treat is a relevant question. Here, a retrospective, observational study on 49 patients suffering from symptomatic Tarlov cysts treated with a combined endoscopic-microsurgical approach was performed. The microsurgical resection was combined with thecaloscopy inside the lower lumbosacral subarachnoidal space to improve the CSF flow and pressure regulation capability. The purpose was to prove that the surgical method was able to prevent recurrence and gives a major relief of symptoms. Our data suggest that combined interventional treatment of symptomatic Tarlov Cysts is helpful to treat the long-standing symptoms. In all patients we found signs for inflammatory processes at the level of the lumbar leptomeningeal sheets, involving the pia mater and the arachnoid. We found evidence that patients suffering from a slow inflammatory process within the leptomeninges might have increase risk of developing Tarlov cysts. We hypothesized that local CSF flow and pressure regulation mechanism become invalid by the morphological changes at the arachnoid and lose the capability to regulate CSF pressure down by pressing minimal volumes of CSF out of the dural sac at the nerve root exits.