A neoplasm associated with the meninges of the spinal canal – a case report

Abstract

Kulczynski Marcin, Sapko Klaudia, Marciniec Michal, Caban Kinga. A neoplasm associated with the meninges of the spinal canal – a case report. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2019;9(8):476-480. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3379340 http://ojs.ukw.edu.pl/index.php/johs/article/view/7338 The journal has had 7 points in Ministry of Science and Higher Education parametric evaluation. Part B item 1223 (26/01/2017). 1223 Journal of Education, Health and Sport eISSN 2391-8306 7 © The Authors 2019; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 05.08.2019. Revised: 15.08.2019. Accepted: 27.08.2019. A neoplasm associated with the meninges of the spinal canal – a case report Marcin Kulczynski1*, Klaudia Sapko1, Michal Marciniec1, Kinga Caban2 1Chair and Department of Neurology, Medical University of Lublin, Poland 2Department of Neurology, Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 4 in Lublin, Poland *Corresponding author: Marcin Kulczynski ul. dr. K. Jaczewskiego 8 20-954 Lublin, Poland tel. +48817244718 e-mail: mk.marcin.kulczynski@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction: Spinal canal neoplasms are a heterogeneous group of diseases including both primary and metastatic tumors, either benign or malignant. These tumors can develop both intraspinally and peripherally. Spinal canal tumors are four times less frequent than intracranial tumors. Four-limb paresis may be one of the leading symptoms of a spinal canal tumor. Case report: A 76-year-old female patient was admitted to Neurology Dept. Due to progresive paresis of the lower limbs, muscle weakness, gait disorders and urinary incontinence. A spine MRI revealed a contrast enhancement of the meninges of the spinal cord over the entire length of the spinal cord in the sections covered by the MRI, as well as numerous focal lesions associated with the meninges, which were most likely cancer metastatic foci. CT of the chest, abdominal cavity and pelvis showed no signs of primary neoplasm. A PET scan was scheduled for a patient, but it was abandoned due to haemorrhagic incydent within the brain of the patient. Head MRI revealed no signs of primary cancer focus as well. Histopathological examination of the CSF revealed no specific changes. The patient died, and the autopsy was not performed accordingly to family’s request. Discussion: Cancers of unknown primary origin constitute 3-5% of all cancer cases. These, usually fast-progressing cancers are a huge diagnostic difficulty, which results in mediocre effects of treatment of patients who already have cancer metastases, but it is not known what type of cancer doctors are dealing with. In approximately 20% of patients with cancer with an unknown origin, the primary tumor cannot be determined despite the specialized examinations. In such cases, often only post-mortem examination gives a chance to make the correct diagnosis. Key words: spinal cord; meninges; neoplasms; spinal canal.