Conservative treatment is a safe and effective treatment option for spinal osteoid osteoma, though surgical treatment is a gold standard. This report presents two cases of spinal osteoid osteoma treated conservatively and highlights changes in clinical features, including the radiological findings by computed tomography (CT). Two male patients presented with low back pain. Histological diagnosis confirmed osteoid osteoma in the lumbar pedicles. Both patients were treated conservatively, resulting in complete pain relief without any complications 4.5 and 2.5 years after the onset of symptoms, respectively. The CT scans taken one year after the initial presentation demonstrated shrinkage of the nidus. For spinal osteoid osteoma cases where the nidus is close to neural structures, conservative treatment is a safe and effective option. One year after the initial presentation, CT findings are useful to determine whether conservative treatment is effective.
Kawaharada et al. (Wed,) studied this question.