Almost every 10th person living on our planet has problems with the spine. This is especially true for the representatives of the beautiful half of humanity aged 20-30 years. And after 40 in 80% of cases a certain disease has already been recorded. We are talking about hemangioma of the spine, what it is and how to treat it; it will be discussed in this material.
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What is spinal hemangioma
This is one of the most common vascular formations of the skeletal system, when vessels of various types intertwine and change, representing a tangle. As a rule, vertebrae are damaged in this case, although benign neoplasms also appear in the cartilaginous layers.
Lesions occur mainly in the thoracic and lumbar spine, localized in one or more vertebrae. The pathology development process is as follows - a tumor begins to form from inferior vessels, injuries, serious stresses cause hemorrhages, blood clots, stimulating the cells to cleanse themselves in the damage zone, after which the vacated space is filled with inferior tumor vessels. All this happens without stopping, allowing tumors to grow that reach a maximum of 1 cm.
The nature of the development of pathology allows it to be divided into several types:
- Aggressive when the tumor grows relatively quickly with severe symptoms - compression syndrome and vertebral fractures.
- Non-aggressive - its course is slow and asymptomatic. There are even spontaneous resorption.
Hemangioma can be localized in the body of the vertebra, the posterior semicircle, in the entire vertebra and grow epidurally over the meninges.
The types of neoplasms are distinguished according to the histological structure:
- capillary hemangioma consists of small vessels of a benign nature;
- vascular cavities with blood inside, accompanied by severe pain and risk of vertebral fracture - Cavernous appearance;
- large veins or arteries in the composition of the racemous formation;
- and mixed with the presence of features of the previous 3 species.
A correctly diagnosed with the definition of a variety of pathology will allow you to find the right approach to treatment and further prognosis.
What causes the development of hemangioma of the spine
The main reason for the appearance of the disease, according to experts, is a genetic predisposition. That is, if in your family someone has had a similar disease, then the risk of developing it increases several times.
Other risk factors are tissue hypoxia, an increased amount of estrogen in the blood and spinal injuries, as well as the female sex. In men, this problem occurs much less frequently than in the representatives of the beautiful half of the planet.
Signs and Symptoms
In rare cases, which will be discussed a little later, hemangioma somehow manifests itself. You may not even suspect that you have it if the formation does not compress the nerve roots and does not protrude into the spinal canal.
After 40-45 years, due to age-related changes, bone density decreases, which is exacerbated by the presence of a tumor. This situation leads to a fracture (compression), reducing the height of the vertebra, part of which presses on the blood vessels and nerves.
This leads to the appearance of various symptoms, for example, numbness of the fingers, digestion, heart function and others, depending on the compression of the nerves with the blood vessels and the location of the unhealthy vertebra.
Important: periodic or constant back pain, numbness of the extremities, dizziness and migraine, give rise to a doctor to make a diagnosis.
When an education reaches a certain size, it begins to "report" about itself symptomatically:
- Increasingly, you begin to feel numbness in your limbs.
- Tormented by headaches, bouts of tinnitus and vision problems in the form of decreased severity.
- Pain in the back appears, which can not be removed with the usual painkillers.
- The pain intensifies even at rest, not to mention after physical exertion.
- Sleep is disturbed, hands tremble and convulsions occur.
All these signs of the disease occur in various combinations, which depends on the location of the hemangioma. In any case, it is impossible to ignore such a pathology, since it can lead not only to the fact that you cannot move, but there is a risk of losing your life.
Localization of hemangiomas
As mentioned above, hemangioma often chooses the vertebrae of the thoracic (from Th1 to Th12) and lumbar (I1 to I5) spine. About 1% of all cases of tumor detection were given to the cervical and sacrococcygeal.
Diagnostic methods
Hemangioma can be determined by several diagnostic methods - radiography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We will analyze each method individually.
X-ray is also called spondylography in another way, revealing a restructuring of bone tissue in the presence of a neoplasm.
In this case, the types of damage are distinguished:
- large areas of oval or round shape are called vakuleobrazny;
- septum bones located in columns - columnar;
- the cellular type of lesion is mesh;
- all previous types are present in the picture when mixed.
X-ray allows you to highlight the aggressiveness of the pathology.But at the same time, this method is not considered the most informative, because it reveals a problem only if the tumor is large.
With the help of CT, you can detect small hemangiomas, which allows you to make a high resolution. The type of tumor in these images has a cellular structure due to partial destruction of the bone.
And the most reliable method is MRI, where any types of tumors are determined, including aggressive and non-aggressive type of incoming signal during the examination. And the quality of these signals indicates how severe the disease is.
How to treat spinal hemangioma
Non-aggressive hemangioma with small sizes will not require any drastic measures on the part of doctors. But with aggressive things will be more serious, for the treatment of which there are 4 ways - surgical intervention, sclerotherapy (alcoholization), puncture vertebroplasty and embolization.
There is another option for getting rid of the problem - traditional medicine. But they can be used only after the permission of the attending physician and under his control.
Folk remedies
So how to treat spinal hemangioma with folk remedies? Such methods do not immediately give the desired effect, so you will need to be patient and bring the matter to its logical conclusion.
If the pain is weak, then ordinary rubbing and compresses will help. Duration - 6 treatments. Mix kerosene, sunflower oil and hot pepper (cayenne) and leave for 7 days to insist. This composition is rubbed overnight.
Important: in no case should you perform physical exercises so as not to overload the spine.
Tincture of the leaves of plantain, burdock, yarrow, St. John's wort, mountaineer, coltsfoot, calendula, hazel and geranium - all take 50 g each. Pour a mixture of 0.5 l of boiling water, keeping on a steam bath for a while - up to several minutes, then let stand another 1 hour. Drink warm 4 times a day.
Ginseng tincture also proved to be excellent in the treatment of spinal hemangioma. To prepare it, grind the root of the plant and place it in a half liter jar filled with vodka. The composition is infused for 3 weeks, after which you can take 5 g twice a day, reducing the dose by half in a week and continue to drink for a month, followed by a break of 20 days.
Alcoholization and embolization
The method of alcoholization consists of sclerosing the tumor with alcohol (96%), which destroys the vessel wall, causing thrombosis. And this leads to a decrease in tumor size. But this method was never widely used because of some complications in the form of compression fractures and abscesses.
Embolization is the artificial formation of blood clots, for which parts of the hemostatic sponge are used. Now for this invented a distribution cylinder that performs the same function. Manipulations are carried out selectively with the supply of the composition to the tumor itself and systemically through the blood. The minus of the method is the complexity of the implementation, therefore, relapse of the disease is often observed after it.
Surgical treatment and puncture vertebroplasty
For a long time, surgical removal of education was the only way to deal with it, despite the high invasiveness of the procedure and the risk of complications.
As a result, scientists invented and introduced the method of percutaneous puncture vertebroplasty - a cement composition (bone) is introduced into the vertebra through the trocar, which hardens, releases heat, making the vertebrae much stronger. Such treatment is carried out with various degrees of tumor spread. The advantage of this technique is that after a couple of hours the patient can already move independently. And the very next day he returns to his daily life.
Complications after the procedure arise in very rare cases and are associated only with a negative reaction of the body to the administered composition.And to determine intolerance before the operation, a test is performed. Yes, and modern compounds are almost all hypoallergenic.
What is dangerous education, its complications
The danger of spinal hemangioma seems to be complications if you start the pathology and do not treat it:
- Due to damage to large nerve fibers, paralysis of the legs is possible.
- Even without the presence of injuries, a spinal fracture can occur.
- Due to rupture of the tumor tissue, internal bleeding occurs, which is already life threatening, and not only for health.
The activity of organs and systems will also receive a negative effect due to damage to the spinal cord (compression). All this suggests that you take the problem seriously, make a diagnosis on time and begin competent treatment.
How to prevent neoplasm growth
No one is immune from the appearance of such a pathology, especially people with a genetic predisposition to it. But still, try not to overstrain your spine with excessive physical exertion.
Regular medical examinations and monitoring the amount of estrogen in the blood in women, especially during menopause, can be considered preventive methods. It is important to monitor your diet so that the diet is complete, and lead a healthy lifestyle, not forgetting moderate physical activity. Also try to avoid severe stresses, this is an important psycho-emotional factor for health.
And if you began to feel some discomfort in the spine or pain, then do not postpone visiting a specialist for later, which will save you from negative consequences due to lost time. Health to you and your loved ones!
