Intraosseous Lipoma of the Lumbar Spine

Lipoma is a very common tumor developed in soft tissue like subepithelium, however, intraosseous lipoma developed inside the bone is a quite rare tumor showing less prevalence than 0.1% or 2.5% among primary tumors developed inside the bones. Intraosseous lipoma has been reported to occur usually in metaphyseal or epiphyseal regions of long bones such as femur, tibia, fibula, and calcaneus, but spinal intraosseous lipoma has been reported in only a few cases. Currently, this kind of lesions are increasingly reported owing to the advancement of non-invasive and accurate diagnostic techniques like computed tomography(CT) and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI), and naturally the prevalence of actual intraosseous lipoma is probably much higher than the present expectation. We experienced the intraosseous lipoma developed in a region of the lumbar spine, and hereupon discuss clinical features, natural courses and treatments of this tumor through a case report with literature review.