Treatment of osteoblastoma at C3-4 in a child: a case report

BACKGROUND: Osteoblastoma is a rare and benign osteoid-producing primary bone tumor that affects mainly the long bones. 36% of these tumors are observed around the spine and the vast majority arises around the posterior. CASE PRESENTATION: This report describes a case of C3-4 osteoblastoma occurring in a 5-year-and-8-month-old Han Chinese child. The pathophysiology of symptom development, evaluations, and management are presented. Because of the close proximity of the osteoblastoma to the vertebral artery canal, the artery suffered a minor laceration intraoperatively. Hemostatic gelatin sponges were used to compress the bleeding site instantly and a tricortical iliac crest fixed with a screw was also used to add pressure to the gelatin sponges. Fusion on the other side was also used to stabilize the spine. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a case of osteoblastoma at C3-4 with artery injury intraoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: This case delineates the difficulties in diagnosing this tumor, the challenges and problems encountered during its surgical management, and the favorable prognosis after adequate treatment. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2474-15-313) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.