Thoracic vertebral body exostosis as a cause of myelopathy in a patient with hereditary multiple exostoses.

The posterior thoracic vertebral body appears to be a novel origin for an exostosis causing myelopathy. A patient with hereditary multiple exostoses and myelopathy caused by an exostosis originating from the posterior aspect of the T5 vertebral body was treated with a staged anterior decompression/corpectomy and posterior spinal fusion. The patient had near-complete resolution of his myelopathy immediately after undergoing removal of the exostosis through a right-sided lateral thoracotomy approach. This was a unique origin for an exostosis causing spinal cord compression in a patient with hereditary multiple exostoses. The delivery of the exostosis was performed en bloc during the anterior decompression and corpectomy portion of the surgery. This resulted in the expected favorable outcome.