Rinsho Shinkeigaku (Clinical Neurology)

Brief Clinical Note

Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis presenting with acute onset longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesion

Youhei Ohnaka, M.D., Masashi Nakajima, M.D., Hirotaka Katoh, M.D., Hiroo Ichikawa, M.D. and Mitsuru Kawamura, M.D.

Department of Neurology, Showa University School of Medicine

A 34-year-old previously healthy man presented with acute transverse lumbar myelopathy and MRI evidence of a longitudinally extensive spinal cord lesion (LESCL) from the upper thoracic cord extending down to the conus medullaris. Gadolinium-DTPA enhancement revealed a clearly demarcated enhanced nodule confined to the level of the 11th thoracic vertebral body (T11), which might have caused longitudinally extensive edema in the spinal cord. Histopathological appearance of adenocarcinoma of the nodule led to the ultimate diagnosis of lung cancer. Intramedullary spinal cord metastasis in a young patient without previously-diagnosed malignancy is a rare disorder, but should be listed up as a cause of LESCL.
Full Text of this Article in Japanese PDF (525K)

(CLINICA NEUROL, 50: 725|727, 2010)
key words: lung neoplasms, intramedullary spinal cord metastasis, magnetic resonance imaging, LESCL

(Received: 5-Mar-10)