Exostosis as a cause of spinal cord compression.

A patient harboring multiple hereditary exostoses with a long-lasting tetraparesis owing to intraspinal osteochondroma is described. The results of surgical treatment were poor in contrast to the results achieved by other previous authors performing decompression of the spinal cord. The related literature is briefly reviewed and conclusions are drawn in favor of computed tomographic examination of the spine of patients with vertebral complaints.