PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Sanjay Konakondla
AU  - Jonathan Nakhla
AU  - Jimmy Xia
AU  - Sean M. Barber
AU  - Jared S. Fridley
AU  - Adetokunbo A. Oyelese
AU  - Ziya L. Gokaslan
AU  - Nikolai G. Rainov
AU  - Dimitar G. Haritonov
AU  - Ralf Wagner
AU  - Albert E. Telfeian
TI  - A Novel Endoscopic Technique for Biopsy and Tissue Diagnosis for a Paraspinal Thoracic Tumor in a Pediatric Patient: A Case Report
AID  - 10.14444/7167
DP  - 2021 Feb 01
TA  - International Journal of Spine Surgery
PG  - S66--S70
VI  - 14
IP  - s4
4099  - http://ijssurgery.com//content/14/s4/S66.short
4100  - http://ijssurgery.com//content/14/s4/S66.full
SO  - Int J Spine Surg2021 Feb 01; 14
AB  - Background: Conventional approaches to the thoracic spine can require extensive tissue dissection, bony disruption, and instability that may warrant the need for instrumentation and fusion. Furthermore, anterior approaches may require the involvement of various surgeons from multiple disciplines to ensure a successful operation and mitigate complications. Currently, available minimally invasive approaches still require bony removal and usually rely heavily on computed tomography (CT)-guided imaging without direct gross visualization. Endoscopic spinal procedures have provided an ultra–minimally invasive alternative to access many areas in and around the spinal column.Methods: We present a 12-year-old boy with a right-sided 2.0 × 3.2-cm paravertebral lesion at the level of T5. The patient successfully underwent an endoscopic approach to the lesion with minimal tissue and bony disruption for tissue diagnosis and tumor resection.Results: At initial and 6-month follow-up, the patient remained asymptomatic and without issues.Conclusions: We demonstrate here the feasibility and suggest the safety of a posterior ultra–minimally invasive endoscopic spinal approach to obtain a tissue biopsy of an incidentally found ventrolateral paraspinal tumor in the thoracic region in a pediatric patient. This minimal approach can prove to achieve similar results as other approaches that may otherwise necessitate more extensive or transthoracic procedures.