Spinal neurenteric cyst presenting in infancy with chronic fever and acute myelopathy.

The authors describe the clinical, radiologic, and pathologic features of a neonatal spinal neurenteric cyst (NC) presenting with long-lasting fever and acute myelopathy, and compare this observation with other infants reported in the literature. This observation shows that NC must be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute myelopathy with persistent fever in infancy. Fever is attributed to degenerative changes in the NC, triggering inflammatory cell infiltration and tumor necrosis factor alpha secretion.